Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-08-06
HIS PURPOSE HIS PLEASURE.
Inc Perfect Happiness Achieved by a
Famous Benefactor.

The Perfect Happiness Achieved by a
Famous Benefactor.
ut is only poor kind of happiness
that can come from thinking only about
our own pleasure -
1t was one of the most thoughtful of
the English women of our dav who
sad this, and it is one of her truest
utterances, but very few people prac-
tlcally believe the saying. Yet occa-
sionally we read of lives whose whole
existence shows that the idea of their
own personal happiness entered very
little into their thoughts
In 1908 young man of seventeen
came to New York to make his way in
the world. He was honest and in
dustrious. and very soon was able to
support himself, and to lay up some
thing from his earnings. He felt the
need OF better education, which his
poverty had denied him. If God
gives me wealth." he thought,
otner young men in future
years shall not feel the need of
the means of culture as do now"
Ire thought became his purpose, and
n purpose and the fulfilment of it
manufacturer. and his glue was the
best and the cheapest that could be OBJ
tanned. Later, he built rolling mills.
blast furnaces and steel works in vari-
Gus parts of the United States and in
course of time became a millionaire,
The years IN which he was accumulat-
ing this fortune were years of hard
work. with Little of what young people
would call pleasure in them. But in
all that time no business transaction
was ever entered into by him which
was not thoroughly upright, while his
name became synonymous with sim
pie, direct honesty. and he found
the highest pleasure in that.
But in these years his purpose
strengthened-a plan by which his
great fortune was to be of use to the
people of New York. His own wants
and those of his family were simple in
character, and he cared little for the
amusements whichmanv rich men esti-
mate so highly. He had gained great
fortune. and for purpose. When he
was past sixty years old he put into
actual form the dream he had from his
youth. The Cooper Institute is the re-
suit of all those years of gathering and
planning, and the thousands of men
and women who have been trained
there for lives of honor and usefulness
are the witnesses to the success of his
schemes for the uplifting of humanity
Probably no private citizen of this
century has won the love of so many
people as did Peter Cooper. Rich and
poor spoke his name with reverence,
and whenever his kind face with its
fringe of hair was seen, people who
would not have moved aside for
Prince made room for him.
Years came and went, and the Coop
er Institute. under the direction of its
beneficent founder, was constantly ex-
tending the sphere of its influence.
Not only his own city, which was so
dear to him, but the whole country felt
the impulse which Peter Cooper.
through the Institute and through his
other charities. impaired to it.
At last the busy, kindling life ended,
and all New York was in mourning.
1t was long life. lasting ninety-two |
years, none of which We're spent in
service of self, but all in that or hu-
mainly, and thus fragrant with good |
deeds.
Peter Cooper had placed his own
happiness as last to be attained. Yet |
no man ever experienced purer happi- |
ness than he to who it came unsought. |
On that April day in 1888 when his
body rested in All Souls Church, three |
thousand pupils of the Cooper Institute |
came reverently to lay their roses upon |
the coffin of their benefactor. and in the |
heart of each one must have been i'm
pressed the belief that the happiness !
which lasts is not that which aims only |
at securing ones own pleasure.
His purpose of life was his enjoy |
ment. Youths Companion.