Connecticut western news., 1883-04-11
THE LATE PETER COOPER.
A FEW INCIDENTS IN HIS CAREER.
How he Tried to Live Useful Life, and the
 Results as he Gives it to us.

Results as he Gives it to us.
 The late Peter Cooper was born in New York City February 12, 1791. His maternal grandfather, John Campbell, was Deputy Quartermaster General dur ing the war of the Revolution, and ex- pended considerable fortu1e ill the service of his country. His father was a lieutenant in the army in the struggle for independence. After the close of the war he established hat factory in which young Peter worked. He also learned the coachmaking trade. He finally en- gagged in the manufacture of cabinet ware; then engaged in the grocery busi- ness, and finally in the manufacture of glue and isinglass, which he has carried on more than forty years. He was suc- cessful ln all these enterprises, and he largely attributed this success to the rule of never mourning debt and never having interest to pay.
 MT. Cooper's name is identified with the early history of some of the most notable inventions and improvements of the past one hundred years. While in Baltimore, he built, after his own de- signs, the first locomotive engine turned out on this continent, and 1t was operated successfully on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He invested large capital Ill the extension of the electric telegraph. Mir. Cooper served in both branches of the Common Council of New York city and among other meas ures which he advocated was the build ing of the Croton Aqueduct, regarded as 8 colossal enterprise in those days.
 Convinced that the common school system could not supply technological education, he determined to establish in his native city an institution in which the working classes could secure that in struction which he sought in vain when he was young and ambitious, and the result was the noble ''Union for the Advancement of Science and Art" commonly called the Cooper Institute, covering the block at Seventh and Eighth streets, Third and Fourth avenues. The cost of this Gncluding in terest on the outlay, which he would have received on an ordinary investment) was about $2, GOO, ,00O, to which he added other gifts. This building is devoted rents, issues and profits to the instruc- UlO1l dHO SlCFdGlOu O1 Ulc CldSSSS of New York city. For years the expen- ses of this institution have exceeded $50, ,O0O annually. The munifcence of this gift, the methods by which it reaches the public and the rich results, are too well known to demand elaborate details. Thousands and thousands trained there, to-day rise up and call Peter Cooper blessed.
 MIR. CooPER's WIFE AND FAMILY. Peter Cooper married Miss Sarah Be- | del, of Hampstead, l.. l., in December, 1913, being then twenty-two years old, and his wife in her twenty-first year They had six children, four of whom died in childhood. The two surviving children are Edward Cooper, of the firm of Cooper x Hewitt, merchants in New York City; and Mrs. Sarah Amelia Hewitt, wife of the Hon. A. S. Hewitt, Member of Congress. Mrs. Cooper died in the seventy seventh year of her age and on the ffty-sixth anniversary of her wedding day, December, 1869. Mr.. Cooper never spoke of his wife without emotion. He attributed all his highest happiness, and most of his success in life, to the sterling qualities of character in his wife. He said she was the "day star, the solace. and the inspiration of his life"-words that express deep feel ing, and also substantial fact; for there is no doubt, from the character given her by others, that she was woman of superior moral qualities and had pre- cisely that fitness and training that made q worthy and most efficient 'helpmate' of Mr. Cooper. Certain it is, that her position was one of no secondary i'm portance in MT. Cooper's life and the de- yelopment of his character.
 NEVER IN DEBT.
 "I owe any success which may have been mine," said Peter Cooper, shortl, before his death, "largely to my attitud' in regard to the banks. I would not pu myself in their power by running il debt. I had learned three trades by tn, time I was 21 years old-ene of them ol what is now the corner of Broadway anC Chambers street. I could make ever, part of a hat, and for several years worked in an ale brewery with my father. II my 17th year entered as apprentice tC the coach-making business, in which remained four years, till l became % ago. made for my employer a machine for mortising the hubs of carriages which proved very profitable to him, ano was, perhaps, the first of its kind uset in this country. When I was 21 year old my employer offered to build me shop and set me up in business, but as always had horror of being burdene' with debt, and having no capital of m, own, declined his kind offer. He him self became bankrupt I have made rule to pay everything as I go. If, il the course of business, anything is du from me to any one, and the money not called for, make it my business o the last Saturday before Christmas take it to his business place"
 HOW PETER COOPER LIVED.
 On the anniversary of his 92d birth day, Mir. Cooper remarked to an aC quaintance who questioned him as to tn habits and modes of life that had com bined to preserve his physical constitu tion and mental faculties unimpaire comparatively at such an advanced age 'I always find something to keep m busy, and to be doing something for tn good of man, or to keep the wheels l motion, is the best medicine one ca take. I run up and down stairs here a most as easily as did years ago, whe l never expected that my term woul run into the nineties. I have occasions ) twinges from the nervous shock an physical injury sustained from an e1 plosion that occurred while l was cor ducting some experiments with nitroge gas years ago. Iii other respects m days pass as painlessly as they did whe I was a boy carrying a grocer's baske :. about the streets. It is very curious, added the aged philanthropist, musingly