The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-05
STRANGER THAN FICTION.

When a young man Charles Broadway
Rouss sold needles and pins in the streets
of Winchester on market days. After
service as a private in the Confederate
army he went to New York with only
two dollars in his pocket. He died worth
ten million dollars. Recently he erected
a statue of Washington and Lafayette in
Morningside Park to mark the places
reached New York. After building up a
small business, he failed in the panic
of 1876, owing $4,000. He began again
and accumulated fortune of ten million
dollars He was a good judge of human
nature and assisted many young men in
business.
Mr.. Rouss was devoted to the town of
Winchester, Va, and had given it over
100000 in several ways. He was de-
voted Confederate and never lost his af-.
lection for his comrades OF the Lost
Cause. At his own expense he erected
a monument to dead Confederate soldiers
at Mount Hope Cemetery, New York. He
offered to give 100000 to build a Con-
federate Memorial Hall at Richmond pro-
vided like sum should be paid by others.
1t is believed that the executor will
carry out that generous offer.
inspiration to young men. Going to New
York with a capital Of ten dollars, he
made ten million dollars in that city.
How did he do it? By industry and busl-
ness sagacity. All his life he was an
early riser getting up at o'clock and
going TO work at six. He never wasted
his time. He worked and planned, he
planned and worked. He originated
great and a new idea in business, to-wit
he bought for cash at the lowest posi-
BILE price He added twenty-five per cent,
never more to the cost to the retail trade,
and thereby obtained an immense trade
When he was building his handsome and
roomy store on Broadway, Mr.. Rouss hung
out placard that read as follows:
"'Ie who builds, owns, and will occupy
this marvel of brick, iron, and granite
thirteen years ago walked the streets
penniless and hungry-only to show that
many a man facing fate may be capt.
talist even without the Almighty Dollar,
il he will, and to prove that the capital
lists of today were struggling for, exist
cnce a quarter of century ago.
For many years this successful bust
ness man secuted religion, was friend
and adniirer of Ingersoll, and worked
seven days in the week, never recognizing
the Sabbath. A short time ago, he re-
canted his agnosticism and expressed hope
of Immortality For years he had been
blind and offered a million dollars to any
one who could restore his sight, but
though many tried his blindness baffied
treatment Those who admired him and
respected his affection for the Confeder-
eracy will rejoice to know that at the
last he gave up his belief is Ingersolism.
He was too great a man to die in I'M
belief.
The wonderful success of Mr.. Rouss-
a penniless Confederate private-is
stranger than fiction Quite as remark
able is The fact that as he grew in wealth
his affection increased for his comrades
and his pride in his native State was
strengthened.
The life of Mr.. Rouss ought to teach
all young men never to despair, to have
faith in themselves, to be dligent in
business Industrious and progressive. The
lesson to the older and prosperous is:
Remember the home of youth, the tradi-
tions even of a Lost Cause, and not to
be weaned from the earlier and honester
and simpler ways of living.