Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-28
HIS PURPOSE HIS PLEASURE.
The Perfect Happiness Achieved by q
Famous Benefactor.

ITO OhFOS HIS
The Perfect Happiness Achieved by q
Famous Benefactor.
'It is only a poor kind of happiness
that can ccmefrom thinking only about
our W pleasure"
1t was one of the most thoughtful of
the English women of our day who
said this, and it is one of her truest
%utterances, but very few people prac-
tically believe the saying. Yet occa-
sionally we rssd of lives whose whole
existence shows that the idea of their
own personal happiness entered very
little into their thoughts.
In 1908 a 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 a better education, which his
poverty had denied him. eff God
gives me wealth." he thought,
''other young men in future
years shall not feel the need of
the means of culture as 1 do now"
The thought BECAME his purpose, and
his purpose anu the fultilment of it
were his enjoyment. He became a glue
manufacturer. and his glue was the
best and the cheapest that could be OBJ
tanned. Later, ne built rolling mills.
blast furnaces and steel works in vari-
II parts of the United States, and in
course of time became a millionaire.
/ Tho xyoor.s ;r u,hsnI, L1 .,yo o1-,~.,1-x
ing this fortune were years of hard
work, with little of what young people
all that time no business transaction
was eve 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 which,many rich men esti-
mate so highly. He had gained great
fortune. and for a 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 8
Prince made room for him.
Years came and went, and the Coop
err Institute. under the direction of it.
b%enefcent founder, was constantly ex'
tending the sphere of its influence
Not only his W city, which was SC
dear to him, but the whole country fell
the impulse which Peter Cooper
through the Institute and through hi!
other charities, impaired to it.
At last the busy, kindling life ended
and all New York was in mourning
1t was a long life, lasting ninety-tw'
years, none of which were spent il
service of self, but all in that Of hu
mainly, and thus fragrant with goot
deeds.
Peter Cooper had placed his owl
happiness as last to be attained. Ye
no man ever experienced purer happi
pess than he to who it came unsought
On that April day in 1883 when hi
body rested in All Souls Church, tire
thousand pupils of the Cooper lnstitut
came reverently to lay their roses upol
the coffin of their benefactor. and in tn
heart of each one must have been i'm
pressed the belief that the happines
which lasts is not that which aims onl
at securing ones own pleasure.
His purpose of life was his enjoy
ment.-Youth's Companion.