Augusta Military Academy - Recall Yearbook (Fort Defiance, VA)

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mands upon his friends and students imperative. He was as im- movable in his principles as the lofty hills among which he lived. He could not be approached by any unworthy inducements. Neithr proffered honor nor intimidation could bind him. His life lies before us as an open book which contains no double meaning, no crooked passages, no mysteries, no concealments. It is clear as crystal. It needs no interpreter. The ends he sought were always noble; the means he used were always direct. Neither deception, nor conceal- ment, nor disguise of any kind or degree had place in his nature or methods. He walked in the light, and wrote his heart's inmost pur- pose of his forehead. No man can now recall a single word of tol- eration for a low and equivocal design which ever fell from his lips, but many a man can remember the kind encouragement which he warmly bestowed upon human and wordly purposes. He abhored with all his soul falsehood and dishonesty, and he had the severest scorn for the one who ventured to inform him against his fellow student. While not regardless of the good opinion of men, he looked first for the approval of Heaven. However one might differ with him on any question all readily accord to him their respect for his manliness and unflinching opinions which were always founded upon his honest convictions of right. “He found the straight and narrow way and to him it was safe. To him there came the clear sight that is ever the reward of unbend- ing recitude. His unyielding grasp upon the truth and the right as he saw it, his thorough dedication of himself to the highest and best: in life, combined to build for him in the hearts and lives of others an imposing monument whose symmetry and fine proportions no mere chance could create and which no accident can destroy. “Mr. Roller was a true patriot. He loved the land of his birth and was willing to sacrifice his life upon its altar of service. The call to arms in 1861 drew him, one of the best educated and most scholarly of the young men of the Southland, from the peaceful walls of the State University to the celebrated Stuart’s Cavalry, in which he served throughout the entire Civil War. He who knows the conspicious part played by that cavalry can understand some- what of the hardships he had to endure, the weariness of long i}

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read many times. In his handling of books one could see that he felt that, as Milton had said, ‘a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.’ “Mr. Roller had a decided social nature. His love for books never cut him off from a wholesome intercourse with his fellows. He entered fully into the college spirit of his day and indulged freely in the healthful sports of his colleagues. He had a charming per- sonality and attracted to him many warm personal friends. He was happily married to one who proved a true help-mate in life. He | made his home bright and cheerful. There was a charm about his home influence that was most delightful. There are those around me who have breathed the air of his home—that atmosphere of re- finement, taste, friendship and warm-hearted hospitality. Right well do we remember the conversations at his hospitable board, genially inspired and directed by him, on education, art, literature, politics, books and great times and great men. We distinctly recall his far outstretched hand of welcome when you arrived, and the glad exclamation: ‘Iam so glad to see you,’ and the beseeching tone when you departed entreating you to tarry longer or to return soon again. He had a keen sense of wit and humor and enjoyed a joke hugely. “Tn polities, Mr. Roller was a pronounced Republican, but could hardly be called a politician. He never held but two political offices, serving as a member of the State Legislature during the years 1871-3 and as Principal of the State Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, at Staunton for the years 1883-5, both of which positions he filled with marked ability and success. Other than this, his political zeal was confined to a keen interest in the welfare of his party in the state and the nation. “Our friend was endowed by nature with a remarkable firmness of character. He could bring his mind to a more complete state of discipline than any man I ever knew. He had such a just and com- prehensive view of all moral questions that he could readily distin- guish between the right and the wrong. Sturdy and uncompromis- ing in his character, he set his standard of life high and made his de- 8

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marches, the pangs of hunger, the desire for sleep, all the suffering s for the poor, ragged and starving soldiers in grey he patiently en- dured. Many times he was in the whirlwind of the charge, and in the smoke and fire and rain of shot and shell which he always met with characteristic courage, facing death for the cause he loved. The day before the surrender of Lee at Appomatox he was wounded and captured by the Union Soldiers and for a short while remained a prisioner of war. There are those who would induce our govern- ment to maintain a large standing army in time of peace as prepar- atory to some future emergency which may require it. The bul- wark of the defense of our country lies not in such an army, but in the hearts of the American people. It is the citizen soldier like Chas. S. Roller, and not the mercenary hireling that this Republic must look for the protection of its rights and life. “Mr. Roller accepted the issue of the war between the states as the unerring verdict of high heaven. Disappointed he was that the cause for which he fought had not been victorious, but discouraged never. He went to work bravely and earnestly to do his part in re- storing the Southland to the old order of things. Like his illustrious Commander-in-Chief, Robert E. Lee, he chose the life of teaching as the field affording him the largest opportunities of repairing the havoe made by war. He was himself an educated man, a college bred man, and he knew, as every intelligent man knows that from the days when Themistcles led the educated Athenians at Salamis, the sure foundation of any government and the well-being of any people are laid in knowledge, not in ignorance, and that every sneer at education, at culture, at book-learning is the demagogue’s sneer at intellectual liberty, inviting national degeneration and ruin. He well knew that Tis education forms the common mind, Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined,’ and so he set himself to train the rising generation of his beloved land. , “Tn 1866 he began his first work as instructor at Old Stone Church in the Old Brick School house under the massive spreading oaks on yonder near-by hill. 10