The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-02-21
GOLDEN WORDS.
Speech Of Peter Cooper Before the
Arcadian Club, New York, Feb

EuuIy 49, lod4s -t-.
For the gracious manner and kindly
words In which you have made me vel
come 10 your hospltable home and more
hospitable hearts, be 80 good as 10 accept
my cordial thanks; none the less sincere
that they come from q heart in which the
pulsationS Of elghty-three years have mol
enfeebled the appreciation Of deeds Of
generosity and kindness. When the sug,
gestion Of the honor which you designed
for me was communicated 10 me, l confess
l was reluctant % accede 10 your wishes
because my acceptance seemed 70 imply !
consciousness % my part Of desert, which
did not feel; and my reluctance was only
overcome by the assurance that the recog.
milton which you desire 10 make Of my
lifelong desire TO do my duty 10 the city
Of my birth and TO my fellow men, nigh,
be uselulin helping Others, and especially
the young, 20 do their duty 10 d com
nnunity (which 90 much depends upon
the voluntary actions Of It's Individual
members. II, then, / had done or accom-.
plIshed anything which really merits your
good opinion, let me say at once, and for
all, that l have found and received full
compensation 10 the satisfaction which 1
have derived from the consciousness OF
duty performed; and that the experience
Of long lie enables me 10 say that mon.
ey and efforts expended for the general
good are better paying investment than
any possible expenditure for personal graft.
ticatlon. In looking back, however, over
my lie, am compelled TO make re.
mark, In which most aged persons will
sympathize, and that Is, how much have
seen come TO pass, and how little have
been able TO do In q long career, the
cardinal rule Of which has been 10
render some equivalent 10 society, in
some useful form Of labor, for each
day Of my existence. When ! was.
born, New York contained 33, SS1 ihhab.
itanls. The upper limits OF the city were
at Chambers street. Not q single free
school, either by day or night, existed.
General Washington had just entered up.
on his first term US President Of the Uni.
ted States, the whole annual expenditures
Of which did not exceed s., 200, being
about sixty cents per head Of The popula-
tion. Not single steam engine had yet
been built or erected on the American
continent, and the people were clad in
homespun, and were characterized by the
simple virtues and habits which are usual.
ly associated with that primitive garb. I
need not tell you what the country now
Is, and what the habits and the garments
Of lis people now are, or that the expend.
lture, per capita, OF the general govern
ment has increased fifteen fold.
But l have witnessed and taken
deep interest in every step Of
the marvellous development and pro.
gress which have characterized this CEN
tury beyond all the centuries which have
gone before. Measured by the achieve.
ments Of the years have seen, l am one
OF the Oldest men who have ever lived;
but i do not feel old, and I propose TO
give the receipt by which have pre-
served my youth. l have always given
q friendly welcome to new ideas, and l
have endeayored not to feel too old 10
learn, and thus, though ] stand here with
the SHOWS OF many winters upon my head,
my faith in human nature, my belief In
the progress Of man 10 better social con.
ditiOn, and especially my trust in the
ability Of man 10 establish and maintain
seli'goVernment, are as fresh and as young
as when l began 10 travel the path Of life.
While have always recognized that the
object Of Business Is 10 make money in
an honorable manner, l have endeayored
TO remember that the object OF life Ia
TO do good. Hence l have been ready
to engage in all new enterprises, and
without mourning debt to risk the
means which had acquired in their pro.
motion; provided they seemed to me cal
culated TO Advance the general good.
This will account for my early attempt TO
perie1t the steam. engine, for nv early at.
tempt TO construct the first American To-
connective, Tor my connection with the
telegraph in course OF efforts 10 unite
our country with the European world and
for my recent Efforts to solve the problem
oil economical steam navigation on the
canals; TO all oil which you have 30 kindly
referred. 1t happens 10 but few men to
change the current Of human progress as
1t did to Watt, to Fulton, to Stevenson
and to Morse; but most men may be ready
10 welcome laborers TO q new field Of use.
iulness, and TO clear the world OF their
progress This have tried to do as we'll |
10 the perlecting and execution for their |
ideas, as In making such provision
as my means have permitted
for the proper education of the |
young mechanics and citizens Of nv ma
tive city, In order 10 fit them for the re-
ception Of new ideas; social, mechanical
and scientific; hoping thus to economic
and expand the intellectual as well as the
physical forces, and provide a larger fund
for distribution among the various classes
which make up the various total OF socle.
y. Iicel that nature has provided bouns
tifully for the wants Of all men, and that
we need only knowledge, scientific, polit.
lcal and religious, and self control, ia or
der 10 eradicate .theevils under which so.l
ciety has suffered in all ages. Let me say, |
then, in conclusion, that my experience Of |
lie has not .dlmmed my hopes for hui
mainly; that my sun Is not, setting In
clouds and darkness. but ID going down
cheeriully In clear armament lighted up
by the glory Of God, who should always
be venerated and loved as the infinite
source and fountain Of all light. life. now.