"His presence, wherever he went, lay like a bar of sunshine across a
dark and troubled day. 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.