Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1894-05-08
Extract from the Lie of Chas.
Broadway Rouss.

Fire Department, Cemetery, &c.
&C., this last timely and royal dona-
ton must have swept like cyclone
of grateful astonishment over the
hearts of his ''Old friends and neigh
bors,' as he lovingly refers to them.
Viewed in every possible light, this
is n supreme tribute of memory,
friendship, generosity and loyal pa
triotism. The Shenandoah's waters
have sung of pastoral landscapes, of
peace and beauty, of cruel war,
famine and despair, of broken hopes
and homes, and women weeping DER
their slain; of returning quietude.
toll and effort to restore war-wasted
fortunes by a brave and helpless
people; of one who left its shores for
combat and conquest in an alien
cline, wanderer homeless and pen
niless, who, after losing his former
gains and four years of soldiers
career in defence of his people, kept
the sacred fires of friendship brightly
burning on the altar of his memory,
finally to return crowned victor,
scattering golden treasures in his
pathway: "The Daughter of the
Stars has looked up to Heaven and
blessed the hand that guarded the
bivouac of her dead. Pale mist, like
winding sheet, has lain on her bos-
ON as she moaned the uutimeIy fate
of his brilliant son, and watered with
her tears the flowers that bloom over
his unbroken sleep. She has re-
membered him in flow of crest and
wave, and now she will sing for
ever more of his last grand deed, this
giving of water for man and beast.
''He that watereth shall himself be
watered," and ''the liberal soul shall
be made fat'' are truths of Holy writ
that have come down the long aisle
of the ages, brave, clear and beauti-
full
There is no cause to which vast
wealth can be more sensibly and use
fully applied. There is religion,
pure and indebted, in the emotion
that prompts it, as exemplified in
the passages just quoted, and in the
adage that 'CIeanliness is next to
godliness." Thirst is said to be the
most intense and painful of all tor
tures; hence, the remedy is God
inspired. No millionaire could be-
stow any gift of equal excellence as
a good system of water works.
CHARLES BROADWAY RoUss.
There is to-day no man in New
York City who attracts more univer-
sal attention as he appears in com
mercial GENRES than Chas. Broad
way Rouss. His face and manners
are always scanned, and he is the
study of those among whom he moves.
1 remember him well when he came
to Gotham, almost a penniless young
man fresh from the hattie fields,
where he had fought in Confederate
ranks as private for the cause that
lay so close to his heart and the
State of his birth that he so dearly
loves. Without friends TO assist and
without money he threw himself into
this great seething business world,
buffeting the waves of adversely with
the indomitable pluck and energy of
a man who comprehended the OBJ
stacles that encompassed him, but
with confident, daring vim and res
olutton that adversely could not
queuch nor obstacles deter. Noman
ever knew better than he that to
reach the goal of success extraordi-
nary efforts and extraordinary ge-
MUS were essentially requisite.
Mr.. Rouss started life here you
may say with a few hundred dollars.
These invested in goods bought at
auction at sacrificed values. He
rented q small room on Church
street, whereNhe sold them to his
friends for less than they could be
bought in the regular way. These
few friends spread the news of their
good fortune to others and they alike
to their friends until like mountain
on fire, from small blaze it spread
and grew until its light shone for
miles and thousands of miles around
and flames became unextinguishable.
So it was with Mr.. Rouss, his trade
increased from year to year and un-
der control of this commercial sur
prise and wonder, it has eliminated
into the millions (largely) yearly
soldI and the fruits of his unremit-
ting labor and matchlcss genius to-
day stand triumphantly marked by
the most imposing, beautiful and
costly structure that adorns great
Broadway-the street of palatial
buildings of the great city of New
York.
From the apex of that immense
building (12 stories high) there
floats a streamer one hundred
and fifty feet long bearing the name
of its indomitabIe founder-the once
Confederate private soldier-now one
of the miIlionaires of this City, en-
joying the countless blessings wealth
affords and pursued by the long train
of admirers that bow the knee to
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