Mexico weekly ledger., 1879-11-06
What Peter Cooper Has Seen.

10 learn nov much Mr.. Cooper ex-
ceeds other old men of historic re-
cord we may refer to the famous
Earl of Chatham. At the time the
latter closed his long career as a
statesman by his speech in the House
Of Lords he was Mr.. Cooper's junior
by fifteen years. Franklin, when at
tending the convention which framed
our Constitution, was a very old man,
but Mr.. Cooper is older by several
years. These points illustrate the
distinction between which he retains
above other old men of fame.
Considering his enormous wealth,
Mr.. Cooper has lived in a palmer
manner than any other capitalist who
was not a professed miser. While
ready to give away a million, his
domestic regime was of no higher
order than that of a we'll paid bank
clerk. In fact, his early simplicity
has chung to him through life like a
workingman whose aim was to use the
world without abusing it. Having re-
ferred to Franklin, it may be said
that the mantle of the latter fell on
Peter Cooper. The death of the one
and the birth of the other were al.
most the n year, and each has
through life been controlled by the
same combination of industry, econ
omy, ingenuity, liberality and public
spirit. Gazing upon the life Of such a
man, what a vast breadth of develop
mentit has compassed, and it may be
added that he has always kept abreast
of the age except when he was in adj
vance. He built the first American
locomotive, and he was one of the
projectors of the Atlantic cable, and
he is now publicly discussing the
matter of a ship canal. Such men as
Franklin and Peter Cooper may sink
under the floods of years, but strictly
speaking, they never get old. He
was a boy Of more than seven years
when the death of Washington agon-
lied the nation. The Burr and Ham
ilton duel is one of his early mem
cries, and he was II when even
Hamilton Fish was born. The en-
barge and all the distresses of the
War of 1912 are among the bitter ex-
p%eriences of his early life, for he then
felt the whitening adversely which
followed. He also remembers the
death of Tom Paine, and that of the
famous Fulton, whose first steamboat
he saw plough through the Hudson.
Bryant died an old man, and vet
Peter Cooper was earlier born. He
was older than the poet Shelley; and
yet how few can remember even the
death Of the latter? Longfellow,
Whittier and Wendell Holmes are
taking their places in the ranks of
age, and yet Mr.. Cooper might have
been their schoolmaster. Sixteen ex-
Presidents and Presidents of the I'm
ion have died during his memory,
and he might have voted for all of
these except the first three. His life
also embraces the entire history OF
the Napoleon dynasty. He was four
years old when the ''littIe CORPORAL
won his early fame in crossing the
Alps, and he has lived to see the last
OF the race fall by the hand of an
African savage. How strange to see
a mar born during Washington's first
administration still holding a position
III public life! What a creation he
has witnessed in the history of the
republic! What development in art
and science!-but here words cease
to be of use. No mar ever before
embraced SO much IN his lifetime.
and it is doubtful if any similar in.
stance of eventful longevity will soor
reappear in social or national history.