 commence at chapter first, and to read
consecutively, just as far as the occupation may prove agreeable to themselves,
and not a page beyond it. Should any of this class reach the end of the book,
and fancy the time spent in the perusal not entirely thrown away, the
circumstance will afford its author sincere gratification.
 

                     Preface to The Leather-Stocking Tales

This series of Stories, which has obtained the name of »The Leather-Stocking
Tales,« has been written in a very desultory and inartificial manner. The order
in which the several books appeared was essentially different from that in which
they would have been presented to the world, had the regular course of their
incidents been consulted. In »The Pioneers,« the first of the series written,
the Leather-Stocking is represented as already old, and driven from his early
haunts in the forest, by the sound of the axe, and the smoke of the settler.
»The Last of the Mohicans,« the next book in the order of publication, carried
the readers back to a much earlier period in the history of our hero,
representing him as middle-aged, and in the fullest vigor of manhood. In »The
Prairie,« his career terminates, and he is laid in his grave. There, it was
originally the intention to leave him, in the expectation that, as in the case
of the human mass, he would soon be forgotten. But a latent regard for this
character induced the author to resuscitate him in »The Pathfinder,« a book that
was not long after succeeded by »The Deerslayer,« thus completing the series as
it now exists.
    While the five books that have been written were originally published in the
order just mentioned, that of the incidents, insomuch as they are connected with
the career of their principal character, is, as has been stated, very different.
Taking the life of the Leather-Stocking as a guide, »The Deerslayer« should have
been the opening book, for in that work he is seen just emerging into manhood;
to be succeeded by »The Last of the Mohicans,« »The Pathfinder,« »The Pioneers,«
and »The Prairie.« This arrangement embraces the order of events, though far
from being that in which the books at first appeared. »The Pioneers« was
published in 1823; »The Deerslayer« in 1841; making the interval between them
eighteen years. Whether these progressive years have had a tendency to lessen
the value of the last-named book, by lessening the native fire of its author
