Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / Nov. 22, 1901, edition 1 / Page 3
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The National Period jj of American Literature LBT LflRENZt SEARS. LIT. D., '?} Pmfttnr of Amsriwn LUercUurt in Brmiii f rnivertHy. ^ VII.?Ja-.r.es Fenimore Cooper. NEW JERSEY Jud*? who g bud acquired vast tracts of land In and around tlie Jf sources of the Susque hanna in central New York built a stately tnansiou on the shore of Otseito lake and removed his family tliitlier in 17H0. Ills son James, then a year old. grew ui> in this wilderness In the midst of a sort of baronial grandeur anion* Indiana. ?trappers and the dependents of a landed proprietor. He learned many think** not put down In the schoolbooks and other hooka which were In hi* father'* Horary, think* which were to be of value to himself and of great interest t* ether* when he ahould begin to tell about tliem. The lore of wood* and wa ter*, the craft of lavage and beast, the rival eunulug of an iuvading race, were lesson* which were acquired without urging. In 17 years bla education tm woodcraft wa* finished, with some knowledge of books in three years ?t Tale. Then he want to sea and learned something about it and more about ahipa and sailors. I-ater, as a naval officer stationed on latke Ontario, be eume to know the ways of the inland ?ens. Next he married, staid three years lon ger in Cooperstown and went to Mamaroneck to live In quiet contentment ?within reach of the Knickerbocker friends nntil he wag seized with the notion ?at the age of 30 that he could write a better uovel than the one he happened to be reading. He began to write "Precaution." If he had taken a little him aaif, he would not have written the dreary atory of Kngllsh society life, about which he knew very little. But at that time all American authors had to do' Imitative work before they began to quarry the wealth of material close at hand. In this very year of 1820 Irving was writing "The Sketch-Book," half English in character. Cooimt was next urged to follow Scott, who had jnst finished the historical "Iranlioe." The outcome was "The Spy," n uovel of the Revolution, already beginning to be historical after 40 years. Tlie scene was laid In the writer's netghtiorliood, the old neutral ground between two armies and plundered by laith. The hook was a great success at home and abroad. In England as well as America. Translated Into French, it found Its way Into ?other languages and many lands, to Persia, Arabia and the far east. The new nation had now a novelist of Its own to portray Its new life to all the world. This was still more evident when "The Pioneers" followed two years after ward. This time the author worked the other tield, with which he was even more familiar the wilderness, where he had grown up. Harvey Birch, the spy, was succeeded by Natty Iiumppo, the hackwoodsmau, appealing to that aboriginal love of adventure and of the forest which clings to every boy like a heritnge from the primeval life of the race. It was next to returning to the wigwam and the chase and the tribal feud. There hud been nothing like it In Europe since the stone age. Here It was the experience of a young writer who was only throwing a thin tissue of romance over the trapper and the savage he had seen a hundred times. The story was as good as true and as interesting as fiction and always n favorite of the author. Sometimes the ?descriptive padding blocked the progress of events, but Impatient readers early learn the skipping trick, sometimes to their loss and again to their gain. But Cooper had created or translated from life a great character, of whom he made the best and the most, running him through the scries of five romances which bear the name of "Leatherstoeking." He Is the primitive American, evolved from two centuries' contact of the early colonist and adventurer with the wilderuess. He has lakeii on its color and become a part of its life, a competitoi with the wild beast and wild Indian in the struggle for existence without being degraded to the level of cither. The nobler teachings of nature have fallen upon a white soul full of native justice and true uobilitv until a type of Immunity is pro duced which might be taken us pristine in its native simplicity and honesty, it is barely pos sible that a travestied imj ression of this original creation has survived in the foreign mind, making it think of all Americans as backwoodsmen with more or less of acquired guile, and whose present counterparts are the spectacular creatures of ji wild west show. This incongruous specimen should be distinguished from Cooper's frontiers man; also his Indian from those seen at a railway station on the plains. The old charge that he idealized tile red proprietor of the woods and waters may be partly met by saying that the race has not been improved by rum or the ethics of H traders and the agents of a paternal government. He doubtless had his unlovely streaks, hut the early education furnished by the British American settler developed the vices of both races in a fer tile soli. To learn what was Cooper's restoration of the aboriginal type the five "Leatherstocking" tales will be read and In the following order if the career of the woodsman is to be traced to the end: "The Deerslayer," "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Pathfinder," "The Pioneers" and "The Prairie," although this is not the order In which they were written. When Cooper had gratified his love of nature by picturing life upon the frontier in "The Pioneers." he turned to his recollections of seafaring years and wrote "The Pilot." impelled, it Is said, by Scott's blunders in his "Pirate." Two fresh fields had been broken when he entered upon one old as the sea and cultivated ever since Ulysses sailed the "unharvested deep," front which, however, a large crop of stories has' been taken from Virgil's time onward. I5ut there was enough left in its depths and on its surface to make a most successful story in the hands of a genuine sailor, as Cooper was. A large and breezy sort of man, he loved the wide ocean next to the boundless forest. He was not always finically careful about details of composition, but he made no landsman's mistakes about ships' rigging and sailors' lingo. A man-of war was in his day a thing of beauty when under full sail, if not so terrific in ' battle us its hard shell successor. The romance of the engine room is now the topic on seven seas, but Cooper's "Wing and Wing" fancies will always people a receding age with a race of fighting sailors who belonged to a perilous time in our early history. Their conflicts with a great maritime power can best be understood in the pages of "The Pilot" and "The Bed Rover." In these departments of frontier and sea life Cooper became our first historical novelist, having Scott only for a rival, and that without being his imitator. On British ground their books sold side by side and had the same translators Into foreign tongues. Each In his own way brought credit to his country and great renown to himself. But it was in Sir Walter's own Edinburgh and in Its Review that the words were written, "The empire of the sea is conceded to ?Cooper by acclamation." Every writer must have his ups and downs, and Cooper's alternated with customary regularity or irregularity. When he attempted to repeat the suc cess of his first American novel, "The Spy." in "Lionel Lincoln." he did not a nam eminence. In "The I.ast of the Mohicans," 182(1, Cooper picked himself up again, being on his own ground once more, hand in hand with Leatherstocking, now in the manly prime of a forester, than whom no finer woodland character lias been created since the day of the mythical Kobin Hood. Nor was the American specimen an outlaw and a princely thief, as became the Saxon tuider Norman oppression. Instead he had every homely virtue that might adoru a nobleman of nature unspoiled by contact with scoundrels of the town or the settlements. With this book Cooper achieved his greatest success at home and abroad among the multitudes who read what they like and turn a d'Uf ear to the charmer critics, charm they never so wisely. These did by 110 means agree among themselves aud thereby made good their title. It was at this point that our successful novelist was able to go abroad for seven years and incidentally to enjoy the tribute which was freely accorded by foreigners who had confidence In their own estimates of literary values, even if they did not enrich the author by a share in the profits on pirated editions of his works. Yet they gave him cordial welcome anil would have made a lion of him if he had permitted the show. On the other side the scgnery was more attractive to him than social displays, and he found Ills enjoyment in the sunny skies of Italy, the mountains of Switzerland and the <v4d German cities. Meantime his pen was busy with "The Prairie," "The Red Rover," "The Wept of Wisb-ton-Wlsh" and "The Water Witch." Of these "The Red Rover" was most approved, surpassing "The Pilot" even in Its iuteri>st to lovers of sen stories. Imitations of these stories, by the way, had been springing up after his first venture like cathoats following in the | wake of a racer. His own books, however, were multiplying faster than all ! Their imitations, lielug published as soou as written In over 30 different places in Hurope and read as far east as Egypt, Jerusalem and Ispahan. In the "Letters of a Traveling Bachelor," "Residence In Europe," "I/etter to His Countrymen," "Homeward Bound" and "Home as Found" he Is the veqaor of ids native land and shared the hatred which follows that official, especially when self appointed. He was not fitted to lessen the Inevitable un- J trtehsHutnesa attached to his mission. His own arrogance and violence pro- 1 voted a similar spirit, which retorted In virulent personal abuse. This was checked In Its public expression by law suits, which had the good effect of Mnftting the license of the press In personal matters, hut the rancor of his enemies was undiminished for years. This was fostered by positions which he took in his "Naval History of the United States." contrary to the popular view of the real bero I11 the battle of Lake Erie, but fortified by subsequent decisions lu arbitration. In tills case, as In others. Cooper was Dot so tar from rlrat as from urbanity and onavlty In maintaining It. Still. It must lie eon owed that lie had aot much encouragement to cultivate these virtues, nor bad he much he-Nan Hon Hence It woe "Atbannalnn against tbe world" oaco more. He more than beld Ms own. but the record of tbe eotrtem does not add to bis literary ropeoatlen (even**. ISM 1 I I , WHEAT IN THE SOUTH. Ontiauaiua TIIIuk* and I'raa ar Cl? varr i'au IteplMce FarlllUor, by deep breaking, thorough harrow ing. repeated sowings with pea vine* or Clover, we van soon make ally of our poor southern farms so rich that it will pay ua to grow uUr own wheat ami <|ult buying nour and fertilizer, says l>r. lluumeutt of the (ieorgia Cultivator. The great scientific principles that make farming pay are much the same In every section. We need to study those more and apply them constantly. They are simple and easily learned. They never fail to give success when ?beyed. Wheat cannot be cultivated after sowing. Therefore It must be cultivat ed before sowing?that Is, we must so prepare the soil that the crop can do Its best without further cultivation. Can we do this? We can. How? We must break the soil as deep as we can either with or without subsoiling. The essen tial point is to be sure to break it deep. Then we must make it flne and tirm by i repeated harrowing This will enable the soil to hold the rain water where It fails. It will also enable it to furnish the same water In proper quantities at the right time to the growing crop. The breaking can be done any time from now to the last of September, the earlier the better. The harrowing should be repeated as often as convenient. Every time we roll and harrow we increase the soluble plant food in the soil. Hence we in crease the power of the soil to yield and decrease the necessity of buying potash and phosphoric acid. We do not say you must quit buying these, but we do say you may quit. If you keep up this continuous tillage and sow peas or clover, your soil will soon be in condition to grow such crops as will be independent of bought fertiliz ers. Co to work preparing your wheat land at the earliest opportunity. Con tinue to pulverize it right up to the day of sowing. This will insure you a good yield of wheat or oats. A GATE WORTH TRYING. A Correspondent Wfirrnntti It to Close Itself and Stay t lowed. I send you the following sketch of a gate that will absolutely close itself and stay closed. Take any ordinary gate and attach hinges as shown (to lie made from old wagon or buggy tire), just so the same will work easily on j the post. Then attach trace chain at brace A and also to post at It on re verse side from gate. By opening the gate the chain Is wound around the post, raising the gate about eight i 1 KELP CLOSING GATE, inches. It will close by its own weight. The hinges are cheaply and easily made and attached, using only two small bolts on each. If people will i adopt this hinge and method of swing lng a gate, they will have no further trouble by having gates left open. I have used three now for four years and have had no trouble. Before it was nearly impossible for me to keep them closed. The gate is suspended by the chain, and the brace at A is for the purpose of letting the weight come on all four slats and should be about IS Inches from the rear of the gate.?Cor. Farm and Hanc-b. The Southern Dnnt Dourd. M king dust is the keynote of suc cessful farming, according to I>r. Ilan nieutt, who says in Southern Culti- j vator: "Kick up a dust and lots of dust on your farm, and you will get gold dust for so doing. The dust board is simply a piece of plank any con venient length, say, three feet, usually 1 by 0 inches. It is fastened on to the plow stock so as to follow close up be hind the scrape or harrow or culti vator and crush the smalt clods into fine dust. Some use a small steel spring, such as you see on some cotton planters to cover with. Some use a piece of wire. We have had very good work done by using a piece of 2 by 4 scantling, tied on with a wire. If your rows are wide, you can make your dust board longer. Its name indicates its nature. It is intended to be used In dry weather to make a dust blanket in the farm. The object is to prevent the water from evaporating from the soil and feed it to the crops. Some Tilings Almlfn Did. At the I.aramie iffy.i station the value of alfalfa harvested from one half acre of land for five years was about $.">0 more thau the cost of pro ducing it. The value of potatoes and grain from an ndjolnlng half acre for live y?.;.r? was about $44 more thau the cost of producing It at local prices When the alfalfa land was plowed and planted to wheat. It produced , to $12 more value in wheat per acre than the land which had grown pota toes and grain before. Wben alfalfa land was plowed and planted to potatoes. It gave ?ld worth more of potatoes per a ore than was obtained from land which hud eruwu potatoes and grain before. By growing alfalfa the above In- j area** of yields and values was pro duced with absolutely bo cost for fer tilising the land Opportunities. In one of the Greek cities there stood, long ago, ti statue. Kvery trace of it has vanished no*, as is the case with most of these old master pieces of -renins; hut there is still in existence an epigram which (fives us an excellent de scription of it, and, as we read the words, we can discover the lesson which those wise old Greeks meant that the statue should teach to every passer-by. The epigram is in the form of a conversation between a traveler and the statue. "What is thv name, Ostatue?" "I am called Opportunity." "Who made thee?" "Lvsippus." "Why art tiioustanding011 thy I toes?" "To show that I stay buta mo ment." "Why hast thou wings on thy | feet?" "To show how quickly 1 pass by." "Hut why is thy hair so long on thy forehead? "That men may seize me when they meet me." "Why, then, is thy head so bald behind?" "To show that when I have once passed 1 cannot be caught." We do not see the statues standing on t he highways tore mind us of our opportunities for doing good and being of service to others, but we know that they come to us. They are ours but for a moment. If we let them pass they are gone forever.?Se j lected Startling', But True. "If every one knew what a grand medicine llr. King's New Life Pills is," writes 1). II. Turner, Dempsey town, Pa., "you'd sell all you have in n day. Two weeks' use has made a new man of tne." Infallible for constipa tion, stomach and liver troubles 25c. at Hood Pros, drug store. The Christmas number of The Delineator is about the first of the special Christinas issues, ll is a beauty. The cover is a most artistic production, showing a beautifully gowned woman, standing gracefully in a brilliant ly lighted salon. Two charming love stories, one by Cvrus Town-1 send Itrad.v, plenty of advice re garding Christmas Lifts, timely pointers on Cookery, Winter-time] care of Plants, all the fashion > of the day interpreted into simple] langui ge, can be found in the Christinas number of The Deline ator. It is a splendid magazine,] satisfactory inside and out. There is no magazine for women at present published that is more practical in all its pages. Asa Ninas gift itself, it bears its own recouimendat ion. You Know What You are Taking. When you take Grove's Taste less Chill Tonic because the form ula is plainly printed on every bottle showing that it is simply Iron and Quinine in a-tasteless form. No Cure, No Pay. 50c. There are some women so fat and jolly and comfortable look ing it always seems that they ought to be out in the kitchen mixing up something nice for a boy. When annul marries he is great ly embarrassed the first year in attempting to call his wife's mother "Mother" After t ha the gets rid of all embarrassment by calling her "Grandma." The Eminent Kidney and Bladder Specialist. I* '^VT?"4 K The Discoverer ol Swamp-Soot at Work is Cis Laboratory. Tneie is a disease prevailing in this couniry most dangerous because so decep tive. Many sudden deal!; a:e caused by il?heart dise se pneur - i..:.rt failure or apoplexy are often the result of kidney disea e if kidney trouble is allowed to ad vance the kidney-poisoned bio : J will attack | the vital orgdr.s. or the kid' ,selves break down and waste away ce I by celL Then the richntoj of tne blco .he albumen ?leaks out and the sufferer has Bright'* Di'ease, the worst form of kidney trouble. Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Rcvi the new dis- | covery is the true ? tverlfic for kidney, bladder and urinary troubles It luu cured thousands | of apparentlv hopeless case after aii other efforts nave fabed At d >. .*. u in fifty-cent and dollar sizes. A san.p>e bottle sent tree j by mail, also a book telling about Swamp Root and its wonaertui cures. Aadres3 Dr. Kilmer St Co., Binghamtori, N. Y. and mention this paper. ARE YOU DEAF? ANY HEAD NOISES? ALL CASES OF DEAFNESS OR HARD . HEARING ARE NOW CURABLE by our new invention. Only those born deaf are incurable. HEAD NOISES CEASE IMMEDIATELY. F. A. WERMAN, OF BALTIMORE, 8AY8: Baltimore. Md., March 30. mr, Gentlemen . Being entirely cured 01 deafr.es-.. than-a to your treatment, I will now give yom l full history of my case, to he used at your discretion About five years ago my right ear began to sing, and this kept on getting worse, until I lost my hearing in this ear entirely I underwent a treatment for catarrh, for three months, without any success, consulted a num l>er of physicians, among others, the most eminent ear specialist f this city, who told me that only au operation could help me. and even that only temporarily, that the head noises won id then cease, but the hearing in the affected ear would be lost forever I then saw vour advertisement acoiden ally in a New York paper, and ordered our treat ment. After 1 had used it only a few days according to vour .i! ,-eciion* the noise- sed. and 1 to-day, after five weeks, my hearing in the diseased ear has been entirely restored. 1 thank yon heartily and beg to remain Very truly yours F. A. WERMAN. 30S. Broadway, Baltimore, Md. Our treatment doe* not interfere with your usual occupation. YOU CAN CURE YOURSELF AT HOME ?SaT" INTERNATIONAL AURAL CLINIC, 596 LA SAILE AVE., CHICACV I'' MAKE HOME HAPPY. We know nothing you can buy that would add more to the happiness of your home than A GOOD ORGAN. j[ We want to sell you one. We keep the ESTEY. a strictly high grade instrument. HeadouartetS at R F. Smith's Furniture Store. Call and see these Organs. BENSON ORGAN CO., SSSB o. IS'S: BENSON. N. c. OlO-2m. NEW FALL GOODS, My new stock of Dry Goods, Notions, Millinery, Cloaks, Capes, Shoes, Hats Caps, Clothing and Gents' Furnishing Goods is now complete and up-to-date in each depai tmerit. IN DRESS GOODS, I have a full line of the latest weaves and colors in dress goods. Also a full line of trimming in silks, velvets, gimps, braids, jets and applique. SHIRT WAIST GOODS. My line of shirt waist goods is ' bang-up." I have a nice line of silks, flannels, all wool Albatross, Percales. All in beautiful shades. My-Millinery Department is Full and Complete. I have put in a full stock of ihe latest shapes and colors for fall and winter. Also full line of CAPS for misses and chil dren. Ladies wishing anything in this departirn nt will find Miss Beckwith at her post ready and willing to servt them in a strictly/r p-to-date stvle. SHOES, SHOES. Jk SHOES, SHOES. 1 carry a full line of Zeigler Bros.' fin? shoes for ladies, misses and child en, the best shoes made for wear. Every pair war ranted. I also carry a full stock of other makes of tine shoes for men, ladies, misses and children, which are first quality and you can buy them very cheap. CLOTHING! CLOTHING! I have put in a full stock of clothing of newest make-up styles in all sizes for men, youths and children. Prices from $1 to $12.50 per suit. Also a nice line of PANTS from $2 to $5. Aso 1 have a good line of FINEJHATS, all colors, and a good line of GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS. Don't buy your goods until you get my prices, as I am sure that [.can save you money, as I discount all of my bills and will give my customers the benefit of it. WI. G. Yelvington, VTH SMITHFIELD, N. G." 'm BY BUYING MOIMEY-SAV) .j O'S. 'JA/a |(>Anl ,0 catalogues of each W 3 VVanl ,he following to every ? ? Fr ,ter in the State. WRITE A POSTAL CARD FOR ONE: The CORN CROP eati tie doubled by using a HEKKEK and SHREDDER. It husks the corn and delivers into wagon or crib and shreds or cuts the stalk and fodder at the same time into splendid feed and delivers it into barn or stack. FEED MU.l.S, which grind corn and cob or shelled grain into meal. IliND or POWER FEED CETTERS, with travelling feed table. HORV.: I'O", ?:RS FRED MILLS attached, and for rning Feed Cut ters. Wood Sa*s. > FAN>INU MILL.s ?? jj*ain and seeA GRAIN DRILLS, 1 dw>c and hoe. Bugu; w, fnrrltipr eronsand liar ii, - from ;he t o the humblest Wo have :h~ lare in the South. SOR< !I.I> III, ; luporators. Dir. ?fV l*G Kinds The best an chea st an u last a lifetime. Wor,, CHURNS by far th? I- 'it. ?' KN 1> Foil DATA I.OO I! F.S Ol .. . ?> V K ? THE IMPLEMENT <-Y 1302 1304 East Main Street. I l J1A
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 22, 1901, edition 1
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