t harshness, and clear gray eyes. His head, which was set firmly
and proudly upon giant shoulders, had a peculiar and incessant
oscillating motion. His expressive eyes also were singularly volatile in
their movement--seldom at perfect rest. He was always clean shaven, so
that nothing was lost of the changes of expression which animated his
mobile face in conversation. He had a hearty way of meeting men, a
little bustling, and an emphatic frankness of manner which Bryant says
startled him at first, but which he came at last to like and to admire.
Cooper was a great talker. His voice was agreeably sonorous. He talked
well, and with infinite resource. He could dash into animated
conversation on almost any subject, and was not slow to express decided
opinions, in which at times he almost demanded acquiescence. His
earnestness was often mistaken for brusqueness and violence; "for," says
Lounsbury,[105] "he was, in some measure, of that class of men who
appear to be excited when they are only interested." He created a strong
impression of vigor, intelligence, impulsiveness, vivacity, and
manliness.

When walking Cooper usually carried a stick, but never for support. In
his last years he carried a small, slender walking stick of polished
wood, having a curved handle, and too short for any purpose but to
flourish in the hands. As he walked briskly along the village street,
erect, and with expanded chest, this slender stick was often held
horizontally across his back with his arms skewered behind it, while at
his heels a pet dog trotted, a little black mongrel called "Frisk." In
returning from the walk which proved to be his last he stopped at
Edgewater, then the home of his niece, and, on leaving, forgot to take
his stick. There it has remained, through the years that have passed
since his death, just as he left it, hanging by its curved handle from a
shelf of one of the bookcases in the library.

During this residence in Cooperstown Fenimore Cooper wrote some twenty
of his novels, his _Naval History_, the _Chronicles of Cooperstown_,
besides many sketches of travel and articles contributed to magazines.
This prodigious amount of writing, together with many other activities,
made his life a full one. He rose early, and a considerable portion of
his writing was accomplished before breakfast. In summer hardly a day
passed without a visit to the Chalet farm, on the east side of the lake,
where he sought relaxation from his mental