for a small compensation, gave him instruction in the
evening in arithmetic and other branches. It was at this time that he
formed the resolution which he carried out forty-five years later. He
said to himself:--

"If ever I prosper in business so as to acquire more property than I
need, I will try to found an institution in the city of New York,
wherein apprentice boys and young mechanics shall have a chance to get
knowledge in the evening."

This purpose was not the dream of a sentimental youth. It was a clear
and positive intention, which he kept steadily in view through all
vicissitudes until he was able to enter upon its accomplishment.

He was twenty-one years of age when the war of 1812 began, which closed
for the time every carriage manufactory in the country. He was therefore
fortunate in not having accepted the proposition of his employer. During
the first months of the war business was dead; but as the supply of
foreign merchandise gave out an impulse was given to home manufacture,
especially of the fabrics used in clothing. There was a sudden demand
for cloth-making machinery of all kinds, and now Peter Cooper put to
good use his inventive faculty. He contrived a machine for cutting away
the nap on the surface of cloth, which answered so well that he soon had
a bustling shop for making the machines, which he sold faster than he
could produce. He found himself all at once in an excellent business,
and in December, 1813, he married Miss Sarah Bedel of Hempstead, Long
Island; he being then twenty-two and she twenty-one.

There never was a happier marriage than this. To old age, he never sat
near her without holding her hand in his. He never spoke to her nor of
her without some tender epithet. He attributed the great happiness of
his life and most of his success to her admirable qualities. He used to
say that she was "the day-star, the solace, and the inspiration" of his
life. She seconded every good impulse of his benevolence, and made the
fulfillment of his great scheme possible by her wise and resolute
economy. They began their married life on a scale of extreme frugality,
both laboring together for the common good of the family.

"In early life," he used to say, "when I was first married, I found it
necessary to rock the cradle, while my wife prepared our frugal meals.
This was not always convenient in my busy life, and I conceived the idea
of making a cradle that would be made to rock by mechanism. I d