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part of his life he became a leader of the Greenback party, being a candidate
for President on that ticket. He had good habits and was always occupied
with business. Two children are living, Edward, and a daughter who
married Mr. A. S. Hewitt. The son and son-in-law have each been mayor of
their city. There was great mourning in New York city on April 4th, 1883,
when it was learned that Peter Cooper was dead. But man liveth not to
himself, his memory and influence will be felt by the countless generations

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which will follow after his death. Certain it is those who are benefited by
the aid of "Cooper Union" will not forget their benefactor.
"There is a wide difference between men, but truly it lies
less in some special gift or opportunity vouchsafed to one
and withheld from another,—less in that than in the differing
degree in which these common elements of human power are
owned and used. Not how much talent have I, but how much
will to use the talent that I have, is the main question. Not
how much do I know, but how much do I do with what I
know?"

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On October 25th, 1806, in a an humble farmer's home, was born a boy;
that boy was George Law. For eighteen summers he lived contentedly on
his father's farm, but a stray volume, containing a story of a certain farmer
boy who left home to seek his fortune, and after years of struggle returned
rich, caught his eye, and young Law determined to go and do likewise. His
education was meager, but he had mastered Daboll's Arithmetic.
Having decided that he could not follow the occupation of his father, he
set at work to raise the amount he deemed necessary to carry him to
success. By exercising great frugality in his already simple mode of living,
he managed to save forty dollars, and at the age of eighteen he set out on
foot for Troy, New York, thirty-six miles distant. Putting up at the cheapest
hotel he could find, he immediately went out in search of employment,
which he soon found, beginning as a hod-carrier. He next obtained
employment as a helper, laying brick and 'picking up points,' soon obtained
employment as a mason at $1.75 per day.
But George Law did not mean to always be a day-laborer, he observed
everything closely, and books were freely bought that would help him to a
better understanding of his business. Seven long years of day-laboring, then
he became a sub-contractor, then a contractor. His first efforts in this
capacity was building bridges in various parts of Pennsylvania and although
it has been said that he could not spell correctly any word in the English
language, of three syllables, yet, so carefully were his plans laid that on
every contract that he took he cleared money. He put in a bid for three
sections of the Croton Aqueduct, and succeeded in obtaining the work on
two of them. High Bridge was afterwards awarded to him, among a host of
competitors, and was completed in ten years' time from its beginning. These
two contracts alone had made him a millionaire, but his active mind could
not rest.
He first turned his attention to bank stocks. Next he became interested in
the horse railway system of New York city. He bought the Staten Island
Ferry, ran it five years, and sold out. He was also much interested in steam
ships. Nearly all these ventures proved profitable, and at his death his estate
amounted to about $15,000,000. He was a giant in size, being over six feet
tall, and his mind compared favorably with his stature. His whole energies

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were concentrated on money-getting and, of course, he succeeded. It has
been said that he walked until he could ride, and lived humbly until his
wealth would more than warrant his living on Fifth Avenue. He carried the
hod until he found better work, and never left one position until he had
found a better one, no matter what his real or supposed provocation might
be. He lived to return home, as did the boy of whom he early read, and
established his father comfortably on a farm which he had bought for him.

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