Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1891-06-03
From the Winchester Times.
A MAGNIFICENT DONATION

A MAGNIFICENT DONATION
Charles Broadway Rouss gives the large
sum of $500 for the erection OF a
substantial and ornamental iron fence
around the beautiful city of our dead.
This princely gift never before exceed
ed in the city's history.
The inhabitants of Winchester, great and
small, one and all, we're delighted aud graf
fled beyond measure and expression on
Friday afternoon last when the announce
ment was made that Winchester's kind and
generous friend, Mr.. Charles Broadway
Rouss, had made the princely and magnih-
cent donation of 81 800 through our gallant
and much beloved citizen, ex-governor F.
w. VI. Holiday, for the purpose Of erecting
a substantial and ornamental iron fence all
around our cemetery grounds-which COM
prises Mount Hebron, Stonewall, the old
Lutheran graveyard, and the several addi-
tions purchased by the Cemetery Company
in all comprising more than mile around
its confines. Never has this princely gift
been exceeded in our city's history and it is
but one more evidence of the kindly feeling
that our generous benefactor has for the his
toric old place in which his early life was
spent
The name of c. B. Rouss will go down to
unborn generations of Winchestrians as q
synonym of all that is charitable, good and
benevolent. This last grand and splendid
gift is a fitting capstone for the many other
benefactions, both public and private, made
by him in this city.
The thousands of dead that lie buried
within the sacred precincts of Mt. Hebron
comprise not only those who have passed
over the river" during the last century, but
near five thousand of those of 1S6l65 who
wore the gray and fell valiantly fighting
for their principles on many battleields in
and around Winchester The citizens OF
every Southern State, as well as those of our
beloved city, may rest assured that their
revered dead will sleep on and on surround
ed with handsome iron fence that will fol-
ages estop the inroads of ruthless man OF
depredating beasts. The unostentatious
manner in which Mr.. RouSs gives of hi:
great wealth, acquired by honest labor,
backed by pluck aud enterprise, stamp him
AS one of Natures nobleman. Imbued with
heart full of tenderness and charity, this
gift and the purpose for which it is intend
ed were of his own suggestion and were
carried into effect with that simplicity OF
manner and generosity of heart that has
characterized all of his former charities.
The Harrisonburg Register says Of Mrs.
O'Ferrall, recently deceased, the mother Of
Hon. Chas. T. O'Ferrall; "Mrs. O'Ferrall
was in many respects a remarkable woman.
She possessed great force Of character, un-
firing energy and an iron will, but was
withal the embodiment of kindness and
gentleness. When duty or the warnings of
affection called, her will seemed unconquer-
able and her endurance limtless In June,
1868, hearing at home of the probably NOR
tai wounding of her son, who was in the
Confederate army, she started Immediately
aud in less than twenty-four hours was at
his bedside, having crossed rugged noun
tainS, forded swollen streams and travelled
rough roads distance of more than seventy
miles. BY careful nursing she raised him
from a well-nigh mortal illness, and sent
him forth again to battle in a cause for
which she cherished the intense devotion OF
the typical Southern woman of that day,
Her affection for her step-children was beau
tiful, indeed, and their grief at her death
will be scarcely less than that of her own
children. Frequently her step-sons, now
old men, living in remote sections of the
South and West, made long pilgrimages to
pay their homage to her, and to listen once
again to a voice whose music sOOthed them
in years long past
CAS- wife, mother and friend she was a
model woman. May she rest in peace"