THE PRAIRIE
BY J Fenimore Cooper



THE PRAIRIE

BY

J FENIMORE COOPER



INTRODUCTION

"The Prairie" was the third in order of Fenimore Cooper's
Leatherstocking Tales. Its first appearance was in the year 1827. The
idea of the story had suggested itself to him, we are told, before he
had finished its immediate forerunner, "The Last of the Mohicans." He
chose entirely new scenes for it, "resolved to cross the Mississippi
and wander over the desolate wastes of the remote Western prairies."
He had been taking every chance that came of making a personal
acquaintance with the Indian chiefs of the western tribes who were to
be encountered about this period on their way in the frequent Indian
embassies to Washington. "He saw much to command his admiration,"
says Mrs. Cooper, "in these wild braves . . . It was a matter of
course that in drawing Indian character he should dwell on the better
traits of the picture, rather than on the coarser and more revolting
though more common points. Like West, he could see the Apollo in the
young Mohawk."