"THE GLIMMERGLASS"
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Although the varied charms of the landscapes surrounding Cooperstown, attractive in themselves, and rendered still more fascinating by the magic pen of Cooper, cannot fail to be sources of exquisite delight to all lovers of the beautiful in nature, it is the "Glimmerglass," haunted with the wraiths and shades of the creations of the great Novelist, lying as pure and fair as on creation’s first day,
"Among the pine-clad mountains; |
that appeals most to’ the fancy and dwells longest in the mind.
In the romance of the "Deerslayer" the chief charm of association lies on the Lake and its shores; its scenes being laid almost wholly on its waters or upon the land immediately surrounding them, and with such accuracy is every point, cove and shoal portrayed, and made the scene of some romantic incident or deed of daring, that it is difficult to believe that the facts and characters were reations of fiction, so deftly and with such a semblance of reality are they portrayed.
Although the description of the Lake as seen by Deerslayer, is; that of its appearance prior to the year 1760, t remains in all essential particulars the same beautiful gem as when, undisturbed by the hand of man, the fringing forests were mirrored in its glassy surface• and the impression it produced on the mind of Deerilayer, a mind. peculiarly sensitive and appreciative of the’ beauties of nature, may well hear repetition in these pages: ≈ 130
"O’er no sweeter Lake |
And may
"Thy peace rebuke our feverish stir, |