A Man Who Was Ruined By Public Improvements

On Thursday last in the outskirts of the busy city of Cohoes, there died hu old man whoae days had beeu lengtbeu - ed out nearly five years beyond the Psalnaist's limit. His life, or at least the last 50 years ot it, had been passed iu earuest opposition to the systeni of public improvcrneutH, which, though it added strength to the State and wealth to iu private coffers, left him diseontented and unhappy, btoause it had in a great oieasuie ruined his broad acres for agricultural purposes; and being bom to live and wear out in a eylvan sphere he could not settle his miad down to the bustle of the 19th century, which beiug brought to his door destroyed his earthly peace of mind. Not the sight of the teeining wenlth of the great West as it was borne to the Eastern market tbrough his ancestral farm on the New York Central Eailroad or the Erie Canal, nor the view of the waters of the Cohoes as it flowed quietly by his door in the Mohasvk coinpany's canal, diverted froui ita cbannel by their dam and soon to turn the uiillion spiudles of the bustling city, could reconcile him ttf the loss of his cherished farm and the quiet routine of the farruer's life. Isaac Douw Fonda Lansiug was bom on the farm in question, iu the year 1790. He bas liveJ on the north half of his father's farm lor over half a century, his resideuce standing about half a milo south of thb falls and near th present straw board-uiill of Messrs. Younglove & Stewart. His brother, AbrahumF. Lansing, owned and occupied the other half of the oid farm. Together they auccpssively and unsuccessfuüy fought the buildiog'of the Elle Canal, the Troy and Scbenectady Railroarï, the opening of the Cohoes company's canal and the enlargement of the Erie Canal. Not one of those great undertakings was ouchud within the boundaries of their farms until the last limit of the law had been reached. But they were defeated, the works were finished, and the olay hillside farmg were cut iu twain. Soon Cohoes began to be a name known far and wide. The Remsens, Whites, Garners, Egberts, Beileys, Adamses Johntones and Youngloves began and carried on the mighty manufacturing which has turued the little hamlet of a few years ago into the prosperoua city of 25,000 inhabitants. Most of the farm of Abraham F. Lansing is uow the busiest part of the city, and that of Isaac D. F. is now left to his heirs, worth thousiinds of dollars where it would not have brought tens, but for these mighty improvements. Isaao D. F. Lansing was not an exceptional man. He was an honest yeoman, whose word was as good as his bond. But his like may be found in every comuiuni y. He had no confidonce in the future. He was cool and phlegmatic, loved to think of the past and dweil in the present. He was j. stled as others have been, in this wonderfnl nineteenth century, and found that he lived at least 100 years too late. That is all.