Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1883-04-13
A MODEL AMERICAN WORK
TNGMAN.

In line last week the death of Peter
Cooper was announced. 1t was an an
noancement on which many lines might
have been spent, for It told of the depart
ure of one who might truly be called the
best model of the American workingman;
a man who made his way up through the
most unpromising situations. Beginning
in poverty, his first work was carrying
brick, driving an old wagon. and pulling
hair from rabbit skins to make hats off,
As far on as bis seventeenth year he was
only getting twenty-five dollars year for
his labor as apprentice in /: coach factory.
But he was not afraid CT work, and at
those small wages earned respectable sum
10y overwnrk at nights. And he made his
| brain aid his muscle; even as boy he
was studying the Improvement of the ma
chinery with which he worked, and invent
ed a machine for the faster making of
wheels. 1t was this constant use Of his
mind that laid the foundation of his great
fortune by enabling him to discover a
cheap substitute for Russian isinglass,
discovery that he utilized with tireless
energy in factory that he established -
After he got his feet well under him in a
financial sense, he took prominent part
in the practical application of every pro-
gressive idea of his day, never, however
departing from his old plan Of avoiding
debt, a thing which he held in dread. Lo-
comotives and telegraphs came in in his
day and found in him prompt and liberal
investor. He was interested in the first
Atlantis cable. and was foremost in
introducing locomotive engines on rail-
| roads.
| Not only was he the model American
| workingman, but he was an excellent
model for his American fellow men of all
trades and occupations. Temperate habits
and regular living preserved for him the
health and strength neither of which was
very great with which he commenced
life until he had long exceeded the four
score and ten limit. Besides habits of liv-
ing, he had adhered to and never departed
from plain and unpretentious habits Of So
cial life. With all his great wealth affec-
tation was unknown to him. He was a
real man in all things; real and practical.
His plainly furnished home, his venerable
gig with which he drove through the
streets of New York, were indices of the
| man S disposition. Changed slowly into the
possessor of millions, the rea! man re-
NAMED unchanged. Always an active and
practical friend of his fellow-men, that
| friendship widened as his ability to aid
them increased. The Industrious poor
were never out of his mind, and the great
oenefactun of his life, the Cooper Insti
tute, on which be spent mi lions, was for
their use. He was a marked man with
the poorer classes. Ne poor man ever
thought of Peter Cooper's millions except
to wish the owner we'll, and in this respect
he stood in marked contrast with many of
the millionaires of The present day. A
cardinal belief Of his was that with a
practical education the mechanics of
America pe1d ask fivors from none, and
be spent thousands to put that belief to
the test by giving snch and their children
that advantage.
One of the best biographies that could
be- pL blished for tue benefit of the genera
| tion of Americans now on the stage of
life and those just coming on, would be
the lifs CT Peter Cooper, written by COM
petent hand. 1t would be an American
book in the best sen 90 of the word.