The Lake Gun | Page 3

*EITHER*:
[*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and does *not* contain characters other than those intended by the author of the work, although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may be used to convey punctuation intended by the author, and additional characters may be used to indicate hypertext links; OR
[*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by the program that displays the etext (as is the case, for instance, with most word processors); OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this "Small Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the net profits you derive calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon University" within the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg Association / Carnegie-Mellon University".
*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

This etext was prepared by Hugh Mac Dougall

The Lake Gun
by James Fenimore Cooper

{This text has been transcribed and annotated by Hugh C. MacDougall, Founder and Secretary of the James Fenimore Cooper Society ([email protected]), who welcomes corrections and emendations. The text has been transcribed as written, except that because of the limitations of the Gutenberg Project format, italicized words have been transcribed in FULL CAPITALS.}
{"The Lake Gun" is one of James Fenimore Cooper's very few short stories, and was written in the last year of his life. It was commissioned by George E. Wood for publication in a volume of miscellaneous stories and poems called "The Parthenon" (New York: George E. Wood, 1850), and Cooper received $100 for it. The story was reprinted a few years later in a similar volume called "Specimens of American Literature" (New York, 1866). It was published in book form in 1932 in a slipcased edition limited to 450 copies (New York: William Farquhar Payson, 1932) with an introduction by Robert F. Spiller.}
{Introductory Note: The "Lake Gun," though based on folklore about Seneca Lake in Central New York State (the "Wandering Jew" and the "Lake Gun"), and on a supposed Seneca Indian legend, is in fact political satire commenting on American political demagogues in general, and in particular on the then (1850) Whig Senator from New York State, William Henry Seward (1801-1872), who had served as Governor of New York (1838-1842) and would later become Secretary of State (1861-1869) under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. By 1850 Cooper feared that unscrupulous political extremists, mobilizing public opinion behind causes such as abolitionism, were leading America towards a disastrous Civil War. Cooper probably obtained his local lore about Seneca Lake while visiting his son Paul, who attended Geneva College (now Hobart College) on Lake Seneca from 1840-1844.}

The Lake Gun
by James Fenimore Cooper

The Seneca is remarkable for its "Wandering Jew," and the "Lake Gun." The first is a tree so balanced that when its roots are clear of the bottom it floats with its broken and pointed trunk a few feet above the surface of the water, driving before the winds, or following in the course of the currents. At times, the "Wandering Jew" is seen off Jefferson, near the head of this beautiful sheet; and next it will appear anchored, as it might be, in the shallow water near the outlet.
{"Wandering Jew" = The medieval legend of Ahasueras, who mocked Christ on his way to the cross and was condemned to live until Judgment Day, is widespread throughout Europe, though he was only identified as a "Jew" in the 17th century--students at Geneva College (now Hobart College) applied the name to a supposedly unsinkable floating log in Lake Seneca, identified as the legendary "Chief Agayentha"; Jefferson = I have been unable to locate any "Jefferson" on Lake Seneca}
For more than half a century has this remnant of the forest floated about, from point to point, its bald head whitening with time, until its features have become familiar to all the older inhabitants of that region of country. The great depth of the Seneca prevents it from freezing; and summer and winter, springtime and autumn, is this wanderer to be observed; occasionally battling with the ice that makes a