"From beneath this masque were to be seen part of a fine manly face, and particularly a pair of expressive, large blue eyes, that promised extraordinary intellect, covert humour [note the pre-Webster spelling], and great benevolence"--The Pioneers
Yesterday I started reading The Pioneers: or The Source of the Susquehanna, the first of the Leatherstocking novels written by James Fenimore Cooper, featuring the frontiersman Natty Bumppo/Hawkeye and his First Nations companion Chingachgook.
I'm reading it because it was a Classics Illustrated comic. Chronologically it's the second-last of the five books, and Last of the Mohicans comes earlier in the comics series. But Cooper wrote this one first, and I remember reading the comic when I was young. (The dorky splash page had the characters introducing themselves, saying things like "I am Louisa Grant, Elizabeth's friend.")
What I've read so far isn't exactly slam-bang. One paragraph goes on for four pages! I've just started the fourth chapter and Cooper still hasn't revealed the name of an important character introduced in the first one. (He's the young man who removes a bullet from his arm by flexing a muscle.) When I recited the passage quoted at the top of this post and added "They don't write like that any more," Moira said "Thank goodness!"
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