The Spy

ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS

THE SPY

A TALE OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND

BY JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

EDITED BY

NATHANIEL WARING BARNES

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION

IN DE PAUW UNIVERSITY

GREENCASTLE, INDIANA

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

"I believe I could write a better story myself!" With these words, since

become famous, James Fenimore Cooper laid aside the English novel which

he was reading aloud to his wife. A few days later he submitted several

pages of manuscript for her approval, and then settled down to the task

of making good his boast. In November, 1820, he gave the public a novel

in two volumes, entitled _Precaution_. But it was published anonymously,

and dealt with English society in so much the same way as the average

British novel of the time that its author was thought by many to be an

Englishman. It had no originality and no real merit of any kind. Yet it

was the means of inciting Cooper to another attempt. And this second

novel made him famous.

When _Precaution_ appeared, some of Cooper's friends protested against

his weak dependence on British models. Their arguments stirred his

patriotism, and he determined to write another novel, using thoroughly

American material. Accordingly he turned to Westchester County, where he

was then living, a county which had been the scene of much stirring

action during a good part of the Revolutionary War, and composed _The

Spy--A Tale of the Neutral Ground_. This novel was published in 1821,

and was immediately popular, both in this country and in England. Soon

it was translated into French, then into other foreign languages, until

it was read more widely than any other tale of the century. Cooper had

written the first American novel. He had also struck an original

literary vein, and he had gained confidence in himself as a writer.

Following this pronounced success in authorship, Cooper set to work on a

third book and continued for the remainder of his life to devote most of

his time to writing. Altogether he wrote over thirty novels and as many

more works of a miscellaneous character. But much of this writing has no

interest for us at the present time, especially that which was

occasioned by the many controversies in which the rather belligerent

Cooper involved himself. His work of permanent value after _The Spy_

falls into two groups, the tales of wilderness life and the sea tales.

Both these groups grew directly out of his experiences in early life.

Cooper was born on September 15, 1789, in Burlington, New Jersey, but

while still very young he was taken to Cooperstown, on the shores of

Otsego Lake, in central New York. His father owned many thousand acres

of primeval forest about this village, and so through the years of a

free boyhood the young Cooper came to love the wilderness and to know

the characters of border life. When the village school was no longer

adequate, he went to study privately in Albany and later entered Yale

College. But he was not interested in the study of books. When, as a

junior, he was expelled from college, he turned to a career in the navy.

Accordingly in the fall of 1806 he sailed on a merchant ship, the

_Sterling_, and for the next eleven months saw hard service before the

mast. Soon after this apprenticeship he received a commission as a

midshipman in the United States navy. Although it was a time of peace,

and he saw no actual fighting, he gained considerable knowledge from his

service on Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain that he put to good use

later. Shortly before his resignation in May, 1811, he had married, and

for several years thereafter he lived along in a pleasant, leisurely

fashion, part of the time in Cooperstown and part of the time in

Westchester County, until almost accidentally he broke into the writing

of his first novel. Aside from the publication of his books, Cooper's

And though amidst the calm of thought entire,

Some high and haughty features might betray

A soul impetuous once--'twas earthly fire

That fled composure's intellectual ray,

As Etna's fires grow dim before the rising day.

--Gertrude of Wyoming.

It was near the close of the year 1780 that a solitary traveler was seen

pursuing his way through one of the numerous little valleys of

Westchester. [Footnote: As each state of the American Union has its own

counties, it often happens that there are several which bear the same

name. The scene of this tale is in New York, whose county of Westchester

is the nearest adjoining to the city.] The easterly wind, with its

chilling dampness and increasing violence, gave unerring notice of the

approach of a storm, which, as usual, might be expected to continue for

several days; and the experienced eye of the traveler was turned in

vain, through the darkness of the evening, in quest of some convenient

shelter, in which, for the term of his confinement by the rain that

already began to mix with the atmosphere in a thick mist, he might

obtain such accommodations as his purposes required. Nothing whatever

offered but the small and inconvenient tenements of the lower order of

the inhabitants, with whom, in that immediate neighborhood, he did not

think it either safe or politic to trust himself.

The county of Westchester, after the British had obtained possession of

the island of New York, [Footnote: The city of New York is situated on

an island called Manhattan: but it is at one point separated from the

county of Westchester by a creek of only a few feet in width. The bridge

at this spot is called King's Bridge. It was the scene of many

skirmishes during the war, and is alluded to in this tale. Every

Manhattanese knows the difference between "Manhattan Island" and the

"island of Manhattan." The first is applied to a small District in the

vicinity of Corlaer's Hook, while the last embraces the Whole island; or

the city and county of New York as it is termed in the laws.] became

common ground, in which both parties continued to act for the remainder

of the war of the Revolution. A large proportion of its inhabitants,

either restrained by their attachments, or influenced by their fears,

affected a neutrality they did not feel. The lower towns were, of

course, more particularly under the dominion of the crown, while the

upper, finding a security from the vicinity of the continental troops,

were bold in asserting their revolutionary opinions, and their right to

govern themselves. Great numbers, however, wore masks, which even to

this day have not been thrown aside; and many an individual has gone

down to the tomb, stigmatized as a foe to the rights of his countrymen,

while, in secret, he has been the useful agent of the leaders of the

Revolution; and, on the other hand, could the hidden repositories of

divers flaming patriots have been opened to the light of day, royal

protections would have been discovered concealed under piles of

British gold.

At the sound of the tread of the noble horse ridden by the traveler, the

mistress of the farmhouse he was passing at the time might be seen

cautiously opening the door of the building to examine the stranger; and

perhaps, with an averted face communicating the result of her

observations to her husband, who, in the rear of the building, was

prepared to seek, if necessary, his ordinary place of concealment in the

adjacent woods. The valley was situated about midway in the length of

the county, and was sufficiently near to both armies to make the

restitution of stolen goods no uncommon occurrence in that vicinity. It

is true, the same articles were not always regained; but a summary

substitute was generally resorted to, in the absence of legal justice,

And many a halcyon day he lived to see

Unbroken, but by one misfortune dire,

When fate had reft his mutual heart--but she

Was gone-and Gertrude climbed a widowed father's knee.

--Gertrude of Wyoming.

The father of Mr. Wharton was a native of England, and of a family whose

parliamentary interest had enabled them to provide for a younger son in

the colony of New York. The young man, like hundreds of others in this

situation, had settled permanently in the country. He married; and the

sole issue of his connection had been sent early in life to receive the

benefits of the English schools. After taking his degrees at one of the

universities of the mother country, the youth had been suffered to

acquire a knowledge of life with the advantages of European society. But

the death of his father recalled him, after passing two years in this

manner, to the possession of an honorable name, and a very ample estate.

It was much the fashion of that day to place the youth of certain

families in the army and navy of England, as the regular stepping-stones

to preferment. Most of the higher offices in the colonies were filled by

men who had made arms their profession; and it was even no uncommon

sight to see a veteran warrior laying aside the sword to assume the

ermine on the benches of the highest judicial authority.

In conformity with this system, the senior Mr. Wharton had intended his

son for a soldier; but a natural imbecility of character in his child

interfered with his wishes.

A twelvemonth had been spent by the young man in weighing the

comparative advantages of the different classes of troops, when the

death of his father occurred. The ease of his situation, and the

attentions lavished upon a youth in the actual enjoyment of one of the

largest estates in the colonies, interfered greatly with his ambitious

projects. Love decided the matter; and Mr. Wharton, in becoming a

husband, ceased to think of becoming a soldier. For many years he

continued happy in his family, and sufficiently respected by his

countrymen, as a man of integrity and consequence, when all his

enjoyments vanished, as it were, at a blow. His only son, the youth

introduced in the preceding chapter, had entered the army, and had

arrived in his native country, but a short time before the commencement

of hostilities, with the reinforcements the ministry had thought it

prudent to throw into the disaffected parts of North America. His

daughters were just growing into life, and their education required all

the advantages the city could afford. His wife had been for some years

in declining health, and had barely time to fold her son to her bosom,

and rejoice in the reunion of her family, before the Revolution burst

forth, in a continued blaze, from Georgia to Massachusetts. The shock

was too much for the feeble condition of the mother, who saw her child

called to the field to combat against the members of her own family in

the South, and she sank under the blow.

There was no part of the continent where the manners of England and its

aristocratical notions of blood and alliances, prevailed with more force

than in a certain circle immediately around the metropolis of New York.

The customs of the early Dutch inhabitants had, indeed, blended in some

measures, with the English manners; but still the latter prevailed. This

attachment to Great Britain was increased by the frequent

intermarriages of the officers of the mother country with the wealthier

and most powerful families of the vicinity, until, at the commencement

of hostilities, their united influence had very nearly thrown the colony

into the scale on the side of the crown. A few, however, of the leading

families espoused the cause of the people; and a sufficient stand was

made against the efforts of the ministerial party, to organize, and,