The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-11-09

And fortunate it was for him that he
did decline it; for a few months af-
ter. the war of 1872 broke out, which
would certainly have proved ruinous
to the business of a young carriages
maker without capital. The war,
however, was the beginning of his
fortune. The supply of foreign mer-
chandise being cut off, a great impulse
was given to manufactures. Cloth,
for example, rose to such an extrava-
CANT price that cloth factories sprang
up everywhere, and there was a sud
den demand Tor every description of
cloth-making machinery. Peter
Cooper, who possessed a fine genius
for invention, invented a machine for
shearing the nap from the surface of
cloth. 1t answered its purpose well
and he sold it without delay to good
advantage Then he made another
and as often as he had one done, he
would go to some cloth mill, explain
its merits, and sell it. He soon had
a thriving shop. where he employed
several men, and he sold his machines
faster than he could make them.
In 1914, before the war ended, he
contracted that exquisite marriage
which gave him fifty-fve years of do
nestle happiness, as complete, as al
loged, as mortals can aver hope to
enjoy. It is believed by members OF
his family that, during the long peri
cd of time, there was never an act
done or a word spoken by either of
them which gave pain to the other
They began married life on a humble
scale indeed. When a cradle became
necessary, and he was called upon to
rock it o::tener than was convenient,
he invented a self rocking cradle, with
a fan attachment, which he patented,
and sold the patent for a small sum.
The peace of 1915 ruined his bust
ness ; for no more cloth could be
manufactured at a profit in America.
He tried cabinet-maklug for a while.
Then he went far up town and bought
out a grocery store on the site of the
Cooper Institute. which even then he
thought would become by and by the
best place in the city for the evening
school which he hoped n day
to establish. It was where the Bow
cry terminated by dividing into two
forks, n of which was the old Bos-
ton road, now called the Third Ave
nue., and the other was the Middle
road, now called the Fourth Avenue.
He thought that by the timo-a far
distant time-he was ready to begin
his school, those vacant fields around
him would be built over, and that an
gle would be not far from the center
of the town.
The grocery store prospered. But
he was not destined to pass his life as
a grocer. One day. when he had
been about a year in the business, as
he was standing in the door of his
shop, a wagon drove up, from which
an old acquaintance sprang to the
sidewalk.
"I have been building" said the
newcomer, after the usual salutations.
ga glue factory for my SON but /
don't think hat either he or I can
make it pay. But you are the very
man."
"Where is it ?" asked the young
grocer.
1t was on what We should cow call
the conner of Madison Avenue and
Twenty ninth street, the present cen
tire of elegance and fashion in New
"pIl go and see it."
He got into the wagon with his
and they drove to the spot
He liked the prospect. All the best
glue was then imported from Russia
the American glue being of the most
inferior quality, and bringing only
one-fourth the price of the imported
He saw no reason why as
good glue could not be made in New
York as in Russia, and he determined
to try. The price was two thousand
dollars. 1t SC happened that he pos
sessed exactly that sum, over and
above the capital invested in his gro
Gerry business. He concluded the bar
gain on the spot, sold out his grocery
and began to make glue.
Now followed thirty years OF steady
hard work. He learned how to make
the best glue that ever was made in
the world, and it brought the highest
price. For twenty years he had no
book-keeper, no clerk, no salesman,
no agent. He was up at the dawn
of day.. He lighted the factory fires,
as to be reedy for the men at seven
o'clock. He boiled his own glue.-
At midday he drove into town in his
wagon, called upon his customers,
and sold them glue and isinglass. At
home in the evening, posting his books
and reading to his family.
Such was his life for thirty years