"Who gives himself with his gift, feeds three:Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me!"
FOOTNOTES:[1]Many years after his wife's death, and shortly before his own, Mr. Cooper dictated the following passage, which is almost the last in hisReminiscences:—"Not only do I think of my wife during my waking moments; she often comes to me in my dreams, sometimes once a week, sometimes once in two weeks, and sometimes at longer intervals. It is one of the greatest pleasures of my life that I can believe that she has been, and is now, my guardian angel, and it is one of my happiest hopes that I shall see that this our world is but the bud of a being that is to ripen and bear its choicest fruits in another and a better."[2]Letter of Morse to the Secretary of the Treasury in the autumn of 1843.[3]These and other statements in this chapter are taken from a lecture, delivered March 23, 1868, before the Maryland Institute, by Hon. J. H. B. Latrobe, giving his personal recollections of the early history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.[4]Manuscript of hisReminiscences.[5]This was the sacrifice of a favorite invention to immediate practical considerations, which has been mentioned above as an instance of Mr. Cooper's common sense.[6]A curious survival of this state of things is the Manhattan Company, which secured from the legislature a perpetual charter, so skillfully framed (by Aaron Burr) that, although it grants much more extensive powers than could now be obtained by a corporation, it cannot be successfully assailed so long as the fundamental condition is fulfilled,—namely, that the company shall be prepared to furnish water at all times, on demand. It is said that, in compliance with this requirement, a small steam pump is kept continually running, in connection with a short system of pipes, somewhere near the City Hall, and that the company stands ready to furnish water to any applicant—only, the charter does not fix the price which it may exact! So far as I know, the only use now made of the extensive powers granted by this famous charter is the maintenance of the Manhattan Bank. A few years ago, excavations in lower Broadway brought to light bored logs, which were supposed to be relics of the old "Manhattan" system.[7]Not all of this amount is represented in permanent endowments, since large contributions to cover deficits in annual income as compared with current expenses, or for special repairs and alterations, do not appear under that head. According to the balance-sheet of January 1, 1900, the total assets consist of $1,075,428.62, the appraised value of the building, furniture, and apparatus; and $947,021.39 in cash on hand or investments,—making a total of $2,022,450.01. Of the invested sum $953,159.30 is in "special endowments," of which the income only can be expended. This fund comprises $200,000 from Peter Cooper and $340,000 from the family of the late William Cooper, his brother; the remainder is made up of smaller gifts (the chief of which are a bequest of $30,000 from Wilson G. Hunt, one of the original trustees, and $10,000 each from Mary Stuart, J. Pierpont Morgan, Morris K. Jesup, and John E. Parsons), and one of $300,000 made in December, 1899, by Andrew Carnegie. In addition to the aggregate thus made up Hon. Edward Cooper, the son, and Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, the son-in-law of Peter Cooper, have undertaken to furnish a further income of $10,000 per annum; and finally, according to the 41st Annual Report of the Trustees (May, 1900), the Cooper Union, as residuary legatee under the will of the late John Holstead, will ultimately receive between $200,000 and $300,000.These recent additions to the endowment of the institution will enable the trustees to enlarge its usefulness in many ways, and especially (being no longer dependent for annual income upon rents) to utilize the whole of the building for educational purposes. Yet the total endowment will still be modest, as compared with that of many similar institutions of later origin.[8]Old New Yorkers will be reminded of the closing lines of Fitz-Greene Halleck's poem,—"And there is music twice a weekOn Scudder's balcony."[9]There may have been more than a mere sentimental regret in his mind at that time; for his inventive intuition had struck out half a century before an idea to which the slow thought of his fellows had not yet attained,—the plan of utilizing roofs for the purpose of giving to all classes an ownership of free air and far distance and boundless sky as complete as any landowner could command by fencing off a mountain for his own pleasure. As he looked down upon the vast wilderness of roofs and thought of the multitude laboring beneath them or trudging through the streets ("up one cañon and down another," as old Jim Bridger the scout said in St. Louis), ignorant of the upper sphere within reach, he might well have felt that one part of his original scheme would still be a physical and moral boon to the metropolis. In fact the disappearance of the "vacant lots," so numerous in his youth, and so freely available as informal parks and playgrounds, had created new necessity for air and space. Whether he consciously recalled the hanging gardens of Babylon, or the flat roofs universally utilized for social and domestic purposes in eastern and southern countries, I do not know. At all events he had seized upon a similar idea, and now—nearly a score of years after his death—we are waking up to its value. Even the Cooper Union building some day, after more pressing needs of equipment shall have been satisfied, may be crowned with its garden of rest and outlook.[10]Of the original board, Peter Cooper was the first to pass away. Mr. Hunt and Mr. Tiemann have since died, and Mr. R. Fulton Cutting has been elected a trustee. The other vacancies have not been filled.
[1]Many years after his wife's death, and shortly before his own, Mr. Cooper dictated the following passage, which is almost the last in hisReminiscences:—"Not only do I think of my wife during my waking moments; she often comes to me in my dreams, sometimes once a week, sometimes once in two weeks, and sometimes at longer intervals. It is one of the greatest pleasures of my life that I can believe that she has been, and is now, my guardian angel, and it is one of my happiest hopes that I shall see that this our world is but the bud of a being that is to ripen and bear its choicest fruits in another and a better."
[1]Many years after his wife's death, and shortly before his own, Mr. Cooper dictated the following passage, which is almost the last in hisReminiscences:—
"Not only do I think of my wife during my waking moments; she often comes to me in my dreams, sometimes once a week, sometimes once in two weeks, and sometimes at longer intervals. It is one of the greatest pleasures of my life that I can believe that she has been, and is now, my guardian angel, and it is one of my happiest hopes that I shall see that this our world is but the bud of a being that is to ripen and bear its choicest fruits in another and a better."
[2]Letter of Morse to the Secretary of the Treasury in the autumn of 1843.
[2]Letter of Morse to the Secretary of the Treasury in the autumn of 1843.
[3]These and other statements in this chapter are taken from a lecture, delivered March 23, 1868, before the Maryland Institute, by Hon. J. H. B. Latrobe, giving his personal recollections of the early history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
[3]These and other statements in this chapter are taken from a lecture, delivered March 23, 1868, before the Maryland Institute, by Hon. J. H. B. Latrobe, giving his personal recollections of the early history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
[4]Manuscript of hisReminiscences.
[4]Manuscript of hisReminiscences.
[5]This was the sacrifice of a favorite invention to immediate practical considerations, which has been mentioned above as an instance of Mr. Cooper's common sense.
[5]This was the sacrifice of a favorite invention to immediate practical considerations, which has been mentioned above as an instance of Mr. Cooper's common sense.
[6]A curious survival of this state of things is the Manhattan Company, which secured from the legislature a perpetual charter, so skillfully framed (by Aaron Burr) that, although it grants much more extensive powers than could now be obtained by a corporation, it cannot be successfully assailed so long as the fundamental condition is fulfilled,—namely, that the company shall be prepared to furnish water at all times, on demand. It is said that, in compliance with this requirement, a small steam pump is kept continually running, in connection with a short system of pipes, somewhere near the City Hall, and that the company stands ready to furnish water to any applicant—only, the charter does not fix the price which it may exact! So far as I know, the only use now made of the extensive powers granted by this famous charter is the maintenance of the Manhattan Bank. A few years ago, excavations in lower Broadway brought to light bored logs, which were supposed to be relics of the old "Manhattan" system.
[6]A curious survival of this state of things is the Manhattan Company, which secured from the legislature a perpetual charter, so skillfully framed (by Aaron Burr) that, although it grants much more extensive powers than could now be obtained by a corporation, it cannot be successfully assailed so long as the fundamental condition is fulfilled,—namely, that the company shall be prepared to furnish water at all times, on demand. It is said that, in compliance with this requirement, a small steam pump is kept continually running, in connection with a short system of pipes, somewhere near the City Hall, and that the company stands ready to furnish water to any applicant—only, the charter does not fix the price which it may exact! So far as I know, the only use now made of the extensive powers granted by this famous charter is the maintenance of the Manhattan Bank. A few years ago, excavations in lower Broadway brought to light bored logs, which were supposed to be relics of the old "Manhattan" system.
[7]Not all of this amount is represented in permanent endowments, since large contributions to cover deficits in annual income as compared with current expenses, or for special repairs and alterations, do not appear under that head. According to the balance-sheet of January 1, 1900, the total assets consist of $1,075,428.62, the appraised value of the building, furniture, and apparatus; and $947,021.39 in cash on hand or investments,—making a total of $2,022,450.01. Of the invested sum $953,159.30 is in "special endowments," of which the income only can be expended. This fund comprises $200,000 from Peter Cooper and $340,000 from the family of the late William Cooper, his brother; the remainder is made up of smaller gifts (the chief of which are a bequest of $30,000 from Wilson G. Hunt, one of the original trustees, and $10,000 each from Mary Stuart, J. Pierpont Morgan, Morris K. Jesup, and John E. Parsons), and one of $300,000 made in December, 1899, by Andrew Carnegie. In addition to the aggregate thus made up Hon. Edward Cooper, the son, and Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, the son-in-law of Peter Cooper, have undertaken to furnish a further income of $10,000 per annum; and finally, according to the 41st Annual Report of the Trustees (May, 1900), the Cooper Union, as residuary legatee under the will of the late John Holstead, will ultimately receive between $200,000 and $300,000.These recent additions to the endowment of the institution will enable the trustees to enlarge its usefulness in many ways, and especially (being no longer dependent for annual income upon rents) to utilize the whole of the building for educational purposes. Yet the total endowment will still be modest, as compared with that of many similar institutions of later origin.
[7]Not all of this amount is represented in permanent endowments, since large contributions to cover deficits in annual income as compared with current expenses, or for special repairs and alterations, do not appear under that head. According to the balance-sheet of January 1, 1900, the total assets consist of $1,075,428.62, the appraised value of the building, furniture, and apparatus; and $947,021.39 in cash on hand or investments,—making a total of $2,022,450.01. Of the invested sum $953,159.30 is in "special endowments," of which the income only can be expended. This fund comprises $200,000 from Peter Cooper and $340,000 from the family of the late William Cooper, his brother; the remainder is made up of smaller gifts (the chief of which are a bequest of $30,000 from Wilson G. Hunt, one of the original trustees, and $10,000 each from Mary Stuart, J. Pierpont Morgan, Morris K. Jesup, and John E. Parsons), and one of $300,000 made in December, 1899, by Andrew Carnegie. In addition to the aggregate thus made up Hon. Edward Cooper, the son, and Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, the son-in-law of Peter Cooper, have undertaken to furnish a further income of $10,000 per annum; and finally, according to the 41st Annual Report of the Trustees (May, 1900), the Cooper Union, as residuary legatee under the will of the late John Holstead, will ultimately receive between $200,000 and $300,000.
These recent additions to the endowment of the institution will enable the trustees to enlarge its usefulness in many ways, and especially (being no longer dependent for annual income upon rents) to utilize the whole of the building for educational purposes. Yet the total endowment will still be modest, as compared with that of many similar institutions of later origin.
[8]Old New Yorkers will be reminded of the closing lines of Fitz-Greene Halleck's poem,—"And there is music twice a weekOn Scudder's balcony."
[8]Old New Yorkers will be reminded of the closing lines of Fitz-Greene Halleck's poem,—
"And there is music twice a weekOn Scudder's balcony."
[9]There may have been more than a mere sentimental regret in his mind at that time; for his inventive intuition had struck out half a century before an idea to which the slow thought of his fellows had not yet attained,—the plan of utilizing roofs for the purpose of giving to all classes an ownership of free air and far distance and boundless sky as complete as any landowner could command by fencing off a mountain for his own pleasure. As he looked down upon the vast wilderness of roofs and thought of the multitude laboring beneath them or trudging through the streets ("up one cañon and down another," as old Jim Bridger the scout said in St. Louis), ignorant of the upper sphere within reach, he might well have felt that one part of his original scheme would still be a physical and moral boon to the metropolis. In fact the disappearance of the "vacant lots," so numerous in his youth, and so freely available as informal parks and playgrounds, had created new necessity for air and space. Whether he consciously recalled the hanging gardens of Babylon, or the flat roofs universally utilized for social and domestic purposes in eastern and southern countries, I do not know. At all events he had seized upon a similar idea, and now—nearly a score of years after his death—we are waking up to its value. Even the Cooper Union building some day, after more pressing needs of equipment shall have been satisfied, may be crowned with its garden of rest and outlook.
[9]There may have been more than a mere sentimental regret in his mind at that time; for his inventive intuition had struck out half a century before an idea to which the slow thought of his fellows had not yet attained,—the plan of utilizing roofs for the purpose of giving to all classes an ownership of free air and far distance and boundless sky as complete as any landowner could command by fencing off a mountain for his own pleasure. As he looked down upon the vast wilderness of roofs and thought of the multitude laboring beneath them or trudging through the streets ("up one cañon and down another," as old Jim Bridger the scout said in St. Louis), ignorant of the upper sphere within reach, he might well have felt that one part of his original scheme would still be a physical and moral boon to the metropolis. In fact the disappearance of the "vacant lots," so numerous in his youth, and so freely available as informal parks and playgrounds, had created new necessity for air and space. Whether he consciously recalled the hanging gardens of Babylon, or the flat roofs universally utilized for social and domestic purposes in eastern and southern countries, I do not know. At all events he had seized upon a similar idea, and now—nearly a score of years after his death—we are waking up to its value. Even the Cooper Union building some day, after more pressing needs of equipment shall have been satisfied, may be crowned with its garden of rest and outlook.
[10]Of the original board, Peter Cooper was the first to pass away. Mr. Hunt and Mr. Tiemann have since died, and Mr. R. Fulton Cutting has been elected a trustee. The other vacancies have not been filled.
[10]Of the original board, Peter Cooper was the first to pass away. Mr. Hunt and Mr. Tiemann have since died, and Mr. R. Fulton Cutting has been elected a trustee. The other vacancies have not been filled.
Transcriber's Notes:The original text had the list of other books on the first page. The first title page was placed before this list for this html edition. This is also reflected in the page numbering, [i], [iii], [ii].Page xii, "8" changed to "6"
The original text had the list of other books on the first page. The first title page was placed before this list for this html edition. This is also reflected in the page numbering, [i], [iii], [ii].
Page xii, "8" changed to "6"