er of
usefulness which it has since pursued.

Since then he has prospered to a greater extent than ever, and has
acquired a large fortune. He has taken an active part in the extension
of the telegraph interests of the country, and is now a stockholder and
an officer in the Atlantic Cable Companies. He is very popular among all
classes of citizens, and his appearance at public meetings is always
greeted with applause.

[Picture: PETER COOPER.]

Mr. Cooper is of medium height, and is rather thin in person. He has a
profusion of silvery white hair, and wears his beard under his chin, with
the lip and chin clean shaven. His large gold spectacles give a peculiar
expression to his eyes, which are small and gray. His face is sharp and
thin, and very intelligent, and one of the most thoroughly amiable and
benevolent countenances to be met with in New York. It is emphatically
the face of a good man.

LXVII. THE "HEATHEN CHINEE."

According to the Census of 1870, there were twenty-three Chinese
inhabitants of New York, but the actual number of Celestials in the city
at present is believed to be about seventy-five. The most of these are
very poor, and nearly all reside in the Five Points district, generally
in Baxter street. Some of them are wretched and depraved, but the
majority are industrious and well behaved.

The Chinese candy and cigar sellers are well known. They stand on the
street corners, by little wooden tables covered with broken bits of
candy, which they sell at a penny a piece. They are dirty, dull, and
hopeless looking. No one ever sees them smile, and they rarely pay any
attention to what is passing on the street. Of all the dwellers in the
great city they seem the most utterly forlorn. The patience with which
they remain at their posts, day after day, and in all weathers, is
touching, and one cannot help pitying them. Their earnings must be very
small, but they manage to live on them.

The cigar makers are more fortunate. They buy cheap remnants of tobacco
from the dealers in that article, and at night make these lots up into
cigars, averaging from 150 to 180 cigars per night. They dispose of
these the next day at three cents apiece, and some of them earn as much
as $30 or $35 per week. The cigar maker has a peculiar song which he
sings or chants while rolling out his cigars, and varies this chant by
occasionally puffing a cigar.

There are scarcely any