cture-halls and laboratories; and the roof was abandoned to
the weather. To all these changes, and to many other novelties adopted
afterwards, Mr. Cooper was reconciled by one conclusive argument;
namely, the proof afforded by their results that the Cooper Union was
giving to the working classes that which they needed most and most
desired. Now and then perhaps a sigh might escape him for the dream of
his youth. I remember one occasion when I accompanied him to the roof of
the building, where some new construction was going on which he wished
to inspect. The old man stood for some time admiring the view in all
directions, and at last, recalling how he had once imagined happy crowds
enjoying the delights of that "roof-garden," and casting a mournful
glance at the central spot where the band was to have been, he said,
"Sometimes I think my first plan was the best!"[9] But such regrets did
not occupy his mind. He was satisfied to know that the institution he
had founded, building better than he knew, had proved its fitness by its
success in the eager and grateful use made of it by those for whose
benefit it was intended and in the actual evidences of such benefit.
Every year managers of the different departments took pains to report to
him instances in which students already earning wages had increased
their earnings through the added knowledge or skill acquired in the
evening classes; and this was the feature of the annual statements upon
which he dwelt with the greatest satisfaction.

The charter of the Cooper Union was finally adopted in its present form
by the legislature of the State of New York, April 13, 1859; and the
deed of trust, executed in compliance therewith, on the 29th day of the
same month, by Peter Cooper and his wife, Sarah, conveyed to the board
of trustees the title to "all that piece and parcel of land bounded on
the west by Fourth Avenue, on the north by Astor Place, on the east by
Third Avenue, and on the south by Seventh Street, . . . to be forever
devoted to the advancement of science and art, in their application to
the varied and useful purposes of life."

Even through this dry legal phraseology, it is not difficult to discern
the frank and simple joy of the patient enthusiast, who was at last able
to speak of the land which he had laboriously acquired, lot by lot,
through many years, and the building which he had raised, stone by
stone, through many more, as _one_ "piece or parcel," his to dedi