twelve in the morning
The magician who created Cooperstown sleeps in the old English-looking church-yard of the Episcopal church , in the midst of the graves of his relations , and there is a well-worn path to his head-stone . Whatever the common people of the town may think , it is that grave that draws most pilgrims to the village . Where the hillside cemetery now is , on the bank of the lake , was his farm , which he visited always once and sometimes twice a day . He commonly wrote only from ten to twelve in the morning , giving the rest of the time to his farm and the society of his family . During the period of his libel suits , when the newspapers represented him as morose and sullen in his retirement , he was , on the contrary , in the highest spirits and the most genial mood . `` Deer-slayer '' was written while this contest was at its height . Driving one day from his farm with his daughter , he stopped and looked long over his favorite prospect on the lake , and said , `` I must write one more story , dear , about our little lake . ''