Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1888-11-08
Tribute Of c. II. Rouss 10 a Deceased
Member Of his STAFF.
Henry H. Oppenheim, October l6 1884;
August a, 1855.


Another life and lite gone out forever
Long befor our Church street struggles, he
had planted his broad shoulder agenst the
big wheel, and like Jackson in the jaws of
destruction at Manassas, he never felt the
culver of fear. The poverty of language
opreses me when speak of this heroic, 10y
al, fearless original. The flesh and bone
viii bloom in the lily, and bud in the
oak. but that incomprehensible individual
ity that distinguishes al the counties dead,
living and unborn-that unthinkable that
guides reason, produces thaut, and thrills
and throbs and wears and tears the brain,
whittier? and, but re stop here at the line Of
the Infinite! No Damascus blade was truer
than this brave aud peerless little autocrat.
The poor little survivor of the great rebel
lion, from the proud Palmetto State, was
one of the corner stones of our enterprise
from the beginning down to the inevitable,
when his weary, tired, restles eyes looked
their last upon the brite, eternal sunshine
# What wud heven be worth
if we did not meet agen the chiyalrous, dis
tinguished dead who faut and fel, and never
faltered? PETER AND CLINT, MACARTHUR
and GowING, ONO and BOB, LEE and
FRANK, and POOR, DEAR OPIE. In the
mimic and tragic plays he was born mas
ter. His short life was rich in affection,
integrity, industry and devotion to business
He was a tru Knight of Labor, often twen-
ty-four hours day. His perfect sincerity
aud imprisoned love for 466 was simply
idolatry. Like most of the Rouss family Of
two hundred and twelve, he was agnoitic,
that is to say, he believed with SHELLEY:
"TLere is no spot where0a no city stood :"
with BYRON: "We shall lire foreUer in Na-
h,re's changing realms" He loved THOMAS
PAINE not only for his devotion to the Con-
tinentals, but for this: "7his icorld is my
country, to do good my religionj' = with JET
PERSON "Rcasoa is mopark Of the rorH,'"
with MY FATHER: "7he Colid Arrays was :"
and with Ingersoll, in his tribute to the
Master Mind of the Old World-"VOL-
TAIRE was the intellectual autocrat Of his
time. From his throne at the foot Of the
Alps, he pointed the finger Of scorn at
every hypocrite in Europe. lie was the
pioneer of his century. He was the assas-
sin of superstition. Through the shadows
Of faith and fable, through the darkness Of
myth and miracle, through the midnight Of
Christianity, through the blackness Of big
otry, past cathedral and dungeon, past rack
and stake past alter and throne, he carried,
with chiyalric hands, the sacred torch of
reason"
One morning long before daiite in Church
street-it was when we wer buying and sell
ing al da, and entering paking al mite, |
head Opie sa to a nu man at the desk who
was grumblng about long hours, "That
man is made of steel and ambition, we ar
going for the Stewart Bilding some da."
The Mite of Labor left at breakfast in the
morning, but the thrill and throb of thos
uniOrgOtten, memorable words VII iolo tho
ritter to Greenwood. Thro sunshine, storm
and shade, the peerles little paragon Of per-
fection kept ARREST of the leder in al the
hard and glorious years, and one morning
he came and whispered 81 MUST GIVE UP"
GoD ALuTY! How it hurt and choked.
A month after he died, and his comrades
followed him out to the consecrated spot
where repose his imperishable, ursullied
and pathetic dust. In dreamland and
brainlaud had gathered som words to sa
at his grave, but-wel, Uas OPIE.
Farewell forever and forever, my life
long, faithful friend and brother, nee may
meet agen in the countless billions Of ages
Of eternity.