Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1897-02-16

success. and thus aided by originali-
ty, added to strict honesty, he
triumphantly met the difficulties of
making living in q great city where
be was both unknown and destitute
of capital.
| A popularity in this great mart
where the old soldier rules is, that
it is sufficient for any young fellow
to prove TO Mr.. Rouss that he comes
from Winchester, Va, and he is al
once assured of fair chance to earn
his living indeed, Mr.. Rouss's love
for his old home is so great that he
has given its name to one of his
children.
II would be long and honorable
roll were one to set down the names
of the Southern boys that Mr. Rouss
has helped over rough places some
of them are now themselves rich men !;
but woe unto the malingering lad
who thinks't TO make his birthplace a
cloak for his incompetence-he is
quickly reminded that it is an op-
portunity to earn his living, not u
living that the old cayalryman offers,
and Nemesis overtakes the sluggard
IN short order.
However, after all, these young
fellows to whom he extended his time
ly help were only the sons of his old
comrades-the generation which
came after the heroes with whom be
he had fought side by side-and as
his strenuous efforts began TO bear q
golden harvest, the thoughts of the
Confederate cavalryman turned
fondly 10 the memories and the
graves of those whe had died in
defence of their Constitutional lib
critics.
The first of his many services to
the "Lost Cause" was the fencing
in and beautifying of the Confeder
ate burying-ground near Winches-
ter; TO be sure, this was not heavy
tax upon the purse of the millionaire.
but how many millionaires are there
who think at all of the neglected
dead
Since then Mr.. Rouss has been
more than generous to the many
organizations for the relief of disabled
Confederate veterans, aud though.
with increasing years and overwork.
blindness fell upon him, his own
misfortune only seemed TO broaden
the gates of his charity for others.
Perhaps it was the constant calls
upon him made by those brave wrecks
who had borne up under pain, power
ty and defeat for thirty years; per-
as the light of his own eyes dark
ened. the dead past and its fierce
glory burned more brightly before
his memory. Whatever engendered
it. Mr.. ROu5s has conceived the idea
of building such temple TO the glory
of the Southern soldiers as shalt
serve as a monument for all time.
No one knows better than Mr..
Rouss. that the Southern people are
not writing people, and that the
records of their deeds of vaIor and
their stoicisn under hardship are
fast being forgotten or lost, for the
lack of some specific place where the
documents could be preserved,
In an age of printing, he who
prints most makes out the best case
before the historical jury of the
future and so, recognizing the i'm
portance of collecting data from
which cooler age can write the
annals of the Confederate struggle,
there have been good many scat
tered attempts throughout the South
to establish local repositories for the
papers and mementoes relating TO the
war of '61-65.
The roll-call yearly demonstrates
n dwindling in the ranks of those
who fought the good fight and lived
to tell the tale, and the support of
the various museums has become
burdensome upon the slender purses
of many of the veterans. There is,
therefore, an apparent necessity for
centralizing the efforts of the scat
tered remnant, so that the preserva-
tion of the united collections may be
at once the duty and privilege of the
whole young South. The idea of a
| great Confederate museum was first
embodied in letter written by Mr..
Rouss in 1894, where, after stating
the reasons for its advisability, he
sketches general plan of procedure,
in which he suggests that the institu-
tion be carried on after the man Der
/ of joint stock company, with shares
of the value of SO each, so all could
participate, and the administration
to be vested in seven or nine Of
the surviving Confederate officers of
highest rank.
So many enthusiastic responses
came from the Confederate camps
that in December he suppleme nted
his first by longer and fuller ex-
PLANTATION of his plans. The domi-
nant idea tbroug hout was to make
the memorial building essentially a
donation of the Southern people,
and not the result of the generosity
OF a few rich men. In pursuance OF
this view, the subscription price,
which was to place the name of the
donor upon the roll of Battle Abbey,
was reduced from ten dollars TO one
dollar. However, it was not until
the reunion in Houston, in May,
1895. that Mr. Rouss's own intention
was made clear. At that time he
pledged himself TO give a hundred
thousand doIIars-half the sum es-
timatcd as necessary for the building
and maintenance of the hall-if the
other half could be raised by sub