Cooper, who was also a New Yorker, published “The Spy” in 1821. “Precaution,” his first effort in fiction, which had already appeared, was a study of English society life, about which Cooper knew very little, and it was a failure. In “The Spy,” Cooper knew his ground and his people. He had spent much of his boyhood at Cooperstown, in central New York, near the scene of much of the Indian fighting. He had heard stories of adventure from Indian fighters and trappers. Many of the men who had fought in the American ranks during the War of the Revolution were still living. “The Spy” was instantly popular, because it was the first really American novel written by an American. It dealt with a very interesting character, Harvey Birch; and it appealed alike to the men who knew of the war from experience, and to those who had been brought up to revere the veterans of the Revolution. Europe, too, was intensely curious about the Indian, and the stories that followed, especially those in the Leather Stocking Tales, were translated into almost every European tongue, and are still read in all parts of the Old World. Boys in remote German villages are still playing Cooper’s Indians. Cooper was a very uneven writer, careless, and indifferent about artistic effects. He was often diffuse and often commonplace, and he had not much skill in drawing portraits of men and women; but he could tell a story rapidly and dramatically. He knew how to keep his readers in suspense, and he knew nature, both on land and at sea. SUPPLEMENTARY READING INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LITERATURE _By Henry S. Pancoast_ BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE _By W. P. Trent_ An excellent treatment of the subject in brief. A STUDY OF PROSE FICTION _By Bliss Perry_ A scholarly work by a distinguished critical writer. ASPECTS OF FICTION _By Brander Matthews_ An informing and also a charming literary study by a recognized authority. LITERARY HISTORY OF AMERICA _By Prof. Barrett Wendell_ HISTORY OF LITERATURE IN AMERICA _By Prof. Barrett Wendell and C. N. Greenough_ A condensed survey of the subject. MATERIALS AND METHODS OF FICTION _By Clayton Hamilton_ A simple, interesting, practical book. AMERICAN LANDS AND LETTERS _By Donald G. Mitchell (Ik Marvel)_ A most attractive work, valuable in its informing qualities, and written in most delightful style by the author of “Reveries of a Bachelor.” THE OPEN LETTER