GEORGE COOPER.

O simple and unincidental are the lives of most

medium of their pens, that a formula, bearing the headings, Birth, Marriage and Death, might suffice to contain almost all that is noteworthy concerning them.

George Cooper was born in New York City, May 14, 1840. The play-ground of his boyhood was the Bowery of the great metropolis, which at that time probably possessed more to nurture the poetical faculties than it seems to have at present. He was indebted to the public schools for his early education; but, at the age of thirteen, that larger school, the world, wherein the stern lessons of life were to begin, claimed his entrance. Always a lover of the woods and fields, his delight at that period was to wander at every opportunity far from the busy hum of the great Hive, with a favorite poet for his companion,-for his readings were chiefly poetical. Inasmuch as these stolen excursions were like the oft-quoted “Angel's visits," they were the more intensely enjoyed. Almost everything that Mr. Cooper has written in verse has been composed in his out-of-door rambles. He began the study of law in the office of Chester A. Arthur, who was then - called by his familiars "The Boy," and whose wildest dream would have been the presidency. After being admitted to the bar, Mr. Cooper never practiced to any extent. Many of his early poems are to be found in The Round Table, and The Saturday Press, weekly journals of that day. He has contributed to Putnam's Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Appleton's Journal, The Independent, Harper's Young People, St. Nicholas, and many other periodicals. He is the author of the words of many of the ballads of the hour. Foster, Thomas, Millard, Abt, Wallace, and other composers have sought him for his song-writing facilities. Some of his best known song-words are "Beautiful Isle of the Sea," "Sweet Genevieve," "Mother Kissed Me In My Dream," 'Must We Then Meet As Strangers," "While The Days Are Going By;" but the list of his productions in verse adapted to musical uses, is a long one. He is the author of "The Chaplet," and "Gospel Melodies," two volumes of hymns. As a writer of poems for the children, he is quite successful. Numbers of his poems are in school readers and are used as declamations by the little ones. This seems to please him more than if he had written "The Iliad."

Mr. Cooper is a family man and devoted to his home. One of his bright little daughters, eight