broad windows with rounded tops
he caused to be somewhat narrowed, and pointed, in the fashion usually
described as Gothic. Traces of this change still appear in the exterior
brickwork of the church, for the outline of the original windows has
never been obliterated. To this alteration Cooper added the buttresses
all about the church, not for structural necessity, but as an
architectural embellishment. The interior he caused to be entirely
remodeled, and finished in native oak. Cooper especially prided himself
upon an oaken screen which, as his gift to the church, he erected behind
the altar. The alterations in the church are referred to in a letter
dated "Hall, Cooperstown, April 22nd, 1840" and addressed to Harmanus
Bleecker of Albany:

"I have just been revolutionizing Christ Church, Cooperstown,
not turning out a vestry, but converting its pine interior
into oak--_bona fide_ oak, and erecting a screen that I trust,
though it may have no influence on my soul, will carry my name
down to posterity. It is really a pretty thing--pure Gothic,
and is the wonder of the country round."

This screen remained in the church, with some alteration, until 1891,
when, at the time the chancel was built, it was unfortunately thrown out
and not replaced. In 1910 the remnants of the old screen were
reconstructed to fit the two archways that open into the church on
either side of the chancel, and the panels of the original work were cut
out, allowing a vista through the tracery. The screen that stands at the
left hand as one faces the chancel is almost entirely of the original
design and material.

[Illustration: THE COOPER SCREENS IN CHRIST CHURCH]

Amid his manifold interests, Fenimore Cooper at one time amused himself
in the study of the so-called occult sciences. Having advocated with
apparent enthusiasm a belief in animal magnetism and clairvoyance, he
caused public meetings to be held in the old Court House in Cooperstown,
where, evening after evening, the mysteries of hypnotism were discussed.
On one of these occasions a negro, who had proved at several meetings to
be an excellent subject, was hypnotized in the presence of the audience,
and pronounced to be both clairvoyant and insensible to pain. While
Cooper was descanting eloquently upon this strange phenomenon, the
darkey, suddenly rolling up his eyeballs, and displaying all his ivory,
sprung spasmodically into the air, and then tumbled back