Stories of Great Inventors Part 27

Only thirteen miles of the road had been finished.

The directors were about to give up the work.

There were many sharp turns in the track.

The directors were discouraged because they thought no engine could be made to make those turns.

Mr. Cooper knew that this road would help his rolling mill.

Nothing could discourage him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRST TRAIN IN AMERICA.]

He went to work and made the first locomotive made in America.

He attached a box-car to it.

Then he invited the directors to take a ride.

He took the place of engineer himself.

Away they flew over the thirteen miles in an hour.

The directors took courage, and the road was soon finished.

Years after, when Mr. Cooper had become a great man, he was invited to visit Baltimore.

The old engine was brought out, much to the delight of the people, who cheered again and again at sight of it.

Mr. Cooper soon built at Trenton, N.J., the largest rolling mill in the United States.

He also built a large blast furnace, and steel and wire works in different parts of Pennsylvania.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEW YORK CENTRAL EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS. FASTEST LOCOMOTIVE IN THE WORLD. "ENGINE 999."

Copyrighted by A.P. Yates, by permission of New York Central R.R.]

He bought the Andover iron mines.

He built eight miles of railroad in this rough country.

Over this road he carried forty thousand tons a year.

The poor boy, who once earned but twenty-five dollars a year, had become a millionaire.

No good luck accomplished this.

But these are the things that did it:

Hard work.

Living within his means.

Saving his time.

Common sense, which helped him to look carefully before he invested his money.

Promptness.

Keeping his word.

Mr. Cooper was honorable in all his business.

Once he said to a friend who had an interest in the Trenton works:

"I do not feel quite easy about the amount we are making. We are making too much money. It is not right."

The price was made lower at once.

Do you not think Peter Cooper was an unusual kind of a man to lower the price of an article just because the world needed it so much?

He was now sixty-four years of age.

He had worked day and night for forty years to build his Free College.

He had bought the ground for it.

And now for five whole years he watched his great, six-story, brown-stone building as it grew.

The man who was once a penniless lad should teach many through these great stones some of the lessons he knew so well.

Some of these are industry, economy and perseverance.

The words which he wrote and placed in a box in the corner stone are not too hard for you to read.

"The great object that I desire to accomplish by the erection of this Inst.i.tution is to open the avenues of scientific knowledge to the youth of our city and country, and so unfold the volume of Nature that the young may see the beauties of creation, enjoy its blessings, and learn to love the Author from whom cometh every good and perfect gift."

But would the poor young men and women of New York who worked hard all day care for an education?

Some people said no.

But Mr. Cooper thought of his own boyhood, and believed that young people loved books, and would be glad of a chance to study them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COOPER INSt.i.tUTE, NEW YORK CITY.]

And when the grand building was opened students crowded in from the shops and factories.

Some were worn and tired, as Peter Cooper had often been in his youth.

But they studied eagerly in spite of that.

Every Sat.u.r.day night two thousand came together in the great hall.

There the most famous people in the world lectured before them.