ade with this country, but to do so
would require more space than I think you would feel justified in
occupying in your columns.

* * * * *

PETER COOPER AS AN INVENTOR.

The successes of Peter Cooper's long and useful life are well known.
Not so many are aware of his varied experience in the direction of
failure, particularly in the field of invention. More than once he has
found his best devices profitless because ahead of his time, or
because of conditions, political or otherwise, which no one could
foresee. He possessed the rare qualities, however, of pluck and
perseverance, and when one thing failed he lost no time in trying
something else. Before he was of age he had learned three trades--and
he did not make his fortune at either.

In a familiar conversation with a _Herald_ writer recently, Mr. Cooper
related some of his early experiences, particularly with reference to
enterprises which did not succeed. His father was a hatter, and as a
boy young Cooper learned how to make a hat in all its parts. The
father was not successful in business, and the hatter's trade seems to
have offered little encouragement to the son. Accordingly he learned
the art of making ale. Why he did not stick to that calling and become
a millionaire brewer, Mr. Cooper does not say. Most probably the
national taste for stronger tipple could not at that time be overcome,
and ale could not compete with New England rum and apple-jack. The
young mechanic next essayed the art of coachmaking, at which he served
a full apprenticeship. At the end of his time his employer offered to
set him up in business, but the offer was not accepted, through fear
of losing another's money. He felt that if he took the money and lost
it he would have to be a slave for life. So he quit coachmaking and
went to work for a man at Hempstead, L. I., making machines for
shearing cloth. In three years, on $1.50 a day, Cooper had saved
enough money to buy his employer's patent. Immediately he introduced
improvements in the manufacture and in the machine, which the war with
England made a great demand for by excluding foreign cloths. At this
time Cooper married. In due time the family numbered three, and the
young father's inventive faculty was again called upon.

"In those days," said Mr. Cooper to the reporter, smiling as the
remembrance came to his mind, "we kept no servants as they do
nowadays, and my wife and myself had to do