I have seen it light up the careworn faces of
thousands of people. It seemed as if those who looked at him were
saying to themselves; 'It cannot be so bad a world as we thought,
since Peter Cooper lives in it and blesses us.'"
But how did this poor boy become a millionaire? And how did he get
people to love him so?
He did it, boys and girls, by making up his mind to do it at first,
and then sticking to it.
Nobody could have had more hard things to overcome than Peter
Cooper.
His parents were poor and had nine children.
His father moved from town to town, always hoping to do better.
He forgot the old saying, "A rolling stone gathers no moss."
When the fifth baby was born, he was named after the Apostle Peter,
because his father said, "This boy will come to something."
But he was not a strong boy.
He was able to go to school but one year of his life, and then only
every other day.
His father was a hatter, and when Peter was eight years old he
pulled hair from rabbit skins for hat pulp.
Year after year he worked harder than he was able, but he was
determined to win.
When his eight little brothers and sisters needed shoes, he ripped
up an old one to see how it was made. Always after that he made the
shoes for the family.
Do you think a lazy boy would have done that?
When he was seventeen, he bade his anxious mother good-bye, and
started for New York to make his fortune.
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