the wigwam, served to heighten and intensify, until it gave birth, in after years, to that wonderful series of Indian romances which have charmed young and old of all countries for nearly half a century, and rescued from oblivion the chivalrous and the heroic in the "noble red man." The monument of Cooper's father is here also, and somewhat like his own in shape, but more worn by time.

An immense number of other stones, all perpendicular, and of marble, indicate the final resting-place of Cooper's family and friends, Pomeroy being the only name that varies the monotony of Cooper. Several infants, children of Cooper, lie buried here. The thought of "Sic transit " irresistibly steals over the mind. Alas! what is human greatness, which ends in a little earth-in damp solitude and everlasting silence? We pass out of the churchyard and see the house where live, at an advanced age, two sisters of the novelist, and close by we see the spot where stood his dwelling-place, named the "Hall," of which, since it was destroyed by fire, no trace now remains.

We go again on the lake and fish. What a bore the poor fish must think us. But thunder, lightning and rain again drive us prematurely home. We talk a good deal about ghosts this evening, and I grow nervous. They say the house is haunted. Whether it is or not I heard shuffling of feet and knocking at my door to-night after twelve. The knocking was several times repeated, and I cried, "Come in," frequently; but the shy spirit did not obey. Are ghosts timid?

August 27th.-Sunday; awful storm, and equally awful heat; thermometer at 80° all day; never ceasing rain from morning till night. Mass and sermon by me. After Mass

a number of men interview me at the house, five from Co. Cork, two from Waterford. They are all farmers, and live about seven miles from Cooperstown. The great rain and wind did not hinder them from coming to Mass on Sunday. They have purchased their farms "out and out," and have got plenty of time to pay up the purchase-money. They do not fear a landlord's frown, or an agent's threat; they are independent. We had a long chat about the "old country," and I told much that interested them highly. Another sermon at benediction in the evening. Yankees, as usual, present in good numbers.

Angust 28th.-Last day's boating on the lake. I do not know what is the charm about Cooperstown. It seems as if it were a retreat-a place isolated, shut in from the whole world, where one could be happy for ever. What a place for a monastery would be the bank of this lovely, lonely lake, and how the glorious works of Nature around would. raise the heart to Nature's God.

We take tea at Miss Tanner's very pretty house, "Butternut Cottage," so called from a large tree in the lawn called a butternut. Her father and mother are nice people. Miss Tanner had told me that after tea she would take me 66 up a tree." But she was literal, and proceeded to fulfil her promise. The large butternut tree to which I have alluded stood in the lawn. It was very old and widespreading. The trunk extended up about twelve feet from the ground, and then thick branches shot out from it. Within the branches a flooring was made with seats all around, the backs of which extended from branch to branch. In the centre was a table, and the elevation was reached by a rude staircase. Here we sat, and chatted and joked over

the novelty of our situation. The sun had just set, and the full moon shone through the foliage of the trees all around, while in another direction we saw the calm surface of the lake almost at our feet reflecting the full moonbeam. The whole scene was lovely, but I was not permitted to enjoy it long. At 8 o'clock I delivered my lecture on "The Bible" in the church. A small gathering of people was there, conspicuous amongst whom was the Presbyterian clergyman who took copious notes as I went along.

I should have mentioned when speaking of the Leatherstocking Falls that I had no loss in not seeing them. They were a mere tiny driblet, as the weather was so dry. At their best they are not much; but they enjoy a fictitious importance from the romance cast around them by the vivid imagination, and highly-coloured descriptions of Fenimore Cooper.

CHAPTER XII.

CONCLUSION.

August 29th.-Sarah and I leave Cooperstown at 9.25 a.m., for New York, via Albany. We leave with regret; for we enjoyed the place immensely-but no human pleasure lasts long. We enjoy the Hudson exceedingly; reach Mrs. Attridge's at 8 o'clock and retire early.

August 30th.-Fearfully bitten by mosquitos last night. See Father Crowley off for Ireland by the "Minnesota ""Bon voyage!" Come down to Huntington by train, and spend several days in the dull routine of do-nothing-ness.

I find that the author of "Home, sweet Home," was J. Howard Payne, a native of East Hampton, Long Island, a small village towards the end of the island, within Say Harbour.

To anyone ignorant of law affairs in New York, the following extract, which I have taken from a paper of August 27th last, will explain all :-

"In the city of New York there are upwards of eight thousand men who follow, at a more or less respectable distance, the profession of the law for a livelihood. In other countries, such as France and England, the legal profession is looked up to, not only by the lay community, but by the members of all the other learned professions, as one requiring and peculiarly adapted for the display of the highest possible degree of learning, culture, knowledge of the world and human nature, deep thought and study, and general ability. In England and in France the highest prizes in the field of statesmanship have, as a rule, always been carried off by lawyers; and so far above divinity and physic has the law been regarded in public estimation that many a parent of moderate means who might have made his son a clergyman or a physician without leaning very heavily on his purse, has been known to exhaust his resources and reduce himself to the very verge of ruin in a too often unsuccessful endeavour to make his boy a counsellor. In this country, too, the most coveted positions in the arena of public life have been, and still are, in the majority of cases, filled by members of the legal profession; but the time has long since gone by when the law was regarded by the general public as the most desirable of all the professions. The cause of this is very plain. Every calling or avocation is respectable and desirable only in proportion to its comparative exclusiveness, that is, to the difficulty, time, labour, expense, and unborn talent involved in the pursuit and acquisition of it. A long course of study, involving considerable expense, a liberal general education, and a fair share of natural ability were all necessary here

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tofore to the completion of a 'Limb of the Law.' But how has it been of late years? There is scarcely one intelligent reader who does not know an ignorant and stupid fool with his name over the door of a lawyer's office, whose whole qualifications for his successful admission to the Bar have been acquired by three weeks' reading of Blackstone, as many years' drinking of bad whiskey, and a little influence with the judge. A diploma of this kind is so easily obtained that hundreds of jocose youths of various occupations, who never dreamed of entering on the practice of law have had themselves admitted to the Bar for the fun of the thing.

"These, however, are the more harmless class of our legal luminaries. Another source of supply for the law offices is the unhealthy and alarming dislike entertained by American tradesmen and mechanics towards bringing up their children to the trade by which they themselves have been enabled to pass through life on an independent competence. We are undoubtedly becoming wofully snobbish in this country already, and nobody is so badly bitten with this same snobbishness as the average mechanic. He is ashamed of being only a 'working man.' He is dazzled by the shiny coat which the briefless barrister and the poorly paid clerk have to pinch from their stomachs to put on their backs, and he determines that his boy, instead of being a poor drudge,' as he calls it, must be qualified for a gentleman. So the foolish man wastes his surplus earnings on young hopeful, who is put through a cursory course of study,' is called to the Bar, and in due time finds himself a full-fledged counsellor, attorney, and barrister-at-law, with nothing to do and nothing to eat. It has been already stated that there are now over 8,000 practising lawyers in this metropolis, that is out of every hundred of our population one man is a lawyer. Leaving out the women and children this gives us one lawyer to every twenty grown men, so that admitting that every man in New York goes to law with another man at least once a year, each lawyer can have only twenty cases per annum at an average to live upon. Now, inasmuch as some of our eminent lawyers monopolise some hundreds of these cases, it is plain that many of the lesser lights of the

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