Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1894-11-21
Siiraiuia FREE gress.
A Beautiful Tribute.

We take the following from the
Rouss Auction Trade Journal:
In the report of the speech of
Erastas Wiman at Winchester,
printed in our last paper, there was,
inadvertently, omitted a paragraph
which was in itself gem. tits here
reproduced and will greatly please
our many readers.
Spirits TWAIN"
The good Governor Holiday, in
the splendid Grafton with which he
inaugurated these proceedings, re-
ferred to the uses which the honored
guest of the day is making of his
wealth. He referred TO the fact that
there were many men of continental
reputation for enormous wealth, who
were not performing a service for
their fellow men to compare with that
which Mr.. Rouss, in the event of
this day, conveys to this people in
water works which are here presen-
ted. 1t is thus the spirit of the man,
rather than his wealth, which calls
for our admiration and regard. 1t is
the spirit that animates him 10 good
deeds, much more than the spirit of
sordidness and selfshness that would
beget accumulations of wealth and
the piling up Of gold. Yes, my
friends, the spirit that animates
Charles Broadway Rouss finds its
sweetest expression on yonder gentle
slope, in the silent city of your dead
in the beautiful cemetery where so
many of your hopes lie buried where
sleep so many venerated forms. The
loving care of this son of Winchester
has made this place beautiful, and,
as it were, enclosed within his love.
In the monuments Of almost classic
form which he has raised to his own
loved ones, is found a still closer eX-
preston of the spirit that animates
him-the dear mother whom almost
for an entire year Ire travelled be-
tween Saturday and Sunday of every
week q distance of nearly one thous-
and miles to visit, lies here; her vir-
tues and her love commemorated,
while under the same sod lies the
form of his eldest boy, named after
him, whose memory permeates every
act of his life to this day; TO whom
reference never ceases TO be made to
all his friends. These, with others
fifty entombed, are borne in constant
thought of the past, and with the
hourly discharge of the duties of
every day life is mingled his love for
those that are gone, so that these
words seem completely to permeate
his actions:
"The stately ships 80 on, to their haven I'M
der the hill.
But oh for the touch of vanished hand
aud the sound of q voice that is still -
"As l went this morning, with my
friend, to this beautiful cemetery,
and mingled my tears with his, at
the evidences of affection from nu-
merous unnamed friends, who had
strewn these graves with flowers, |
could not but realize the difference
in the spirit which pervades the or
binary money-getter or the average
millionaire with whom it has been my
fate to associate. And when | stand
to-day before this vast audience, and
recall the occasion which brings us
together, in q muniGcent gift that is
made to the city of Winchester, in
the waters works, | see still another
spirit that projects into the future-a
benefcence and a benedictiOn for the
living as in the cemetery, there is a
gracious remembrance of the dead.
80, ny friends, there is a double
meaning in the life Of this man. The
life on Broadway, in the business of
ten millions a year; the life that he
lives in the memory of the past and
in the future in your pleasant town
three distinctive spirits, that remind
one of the beautiful German ballad,
YOU will recall Having returned from
foreign lands, the German youth
crosses the river to his home and WIS.,
its the graveyard to find the
.omb of his mother and the freshly
made grave of his sweetheart. As
he returns over the ferry, saddened,
vet soothed, with the recollectons of
the past, he says to the bOatman;
"Take oh boatman. thrice thy fee;
Take give il willingly,
For, invisibly to thee.
Spirits twain have crossed with me
Thus it is with our friend, Spirits
twain 90 in and out with him, and
illustrate that there is something no.
bier to live for than the mere grub
bling for moneys sake, except for
the nobler purposes Of good to our
fellow men, of which to-day we see
such a noble illustration"
When Mr.. Erastus Wiman visited
our city as a guest of Mr.. Rouss and
while standing beside the empty
grave that once held the remains of
Mr.. RS. son Charles, with tears
streaming down his cheeks, he ut
tered these words: In that grave
-