Politically, Mr. Roberts has always been a zealous but conservative Democrat, and while he has steadily adhered to the regular organization of that party, he has exhibited on all occasions an independence and conscientiousness in the discharge of his duties, both as a member of the Democratic party and as a public official, which have secured him the highest confidence and respect of the best elements in both parties. He has frequently been mentioned in various quarters as the Democratic candidate for Governor. With exceptional abilities as a lawyer Mr. Roberts combines the qualities of a sound and practical judgment and remarkable business energy and tact, qualities which, together with his attractive personal characteristics, have secured him an enviable popularity throughout the State as well as in his own immediate community, where he is best known and most thoroughly appreciated. In fact, he is one of the most enterprising, progressive, and influential gentlemen in the State, not only as a public man of the best and most honorable type, but also as a sound and well-read lawyer and a highly-successful and prosperous businessman.
The three attorneys who have been longest at the bar of Carroll County are Judge Maulsby, C. W. Webster, Joseph M. Parke, the last having been register of wills from 1869 to 1873.
Literature and art are essentially the products of life in the country. The freedom of the woods and fields, the rippling streams, the hills and valleys, and the health-giving atmosphere uncontaminated by the thousand impurities of large cities, seem necessary for the nurture and development of genius. Nature in her simplest and grandest forms there excites the imagination and fosters the creative faculty in man. However great may be the influence of culture and accumulated experience and example, only to be obtained in great cities, the narrow ruts of life in a metropolis and the concentration of all the powers of body and mind in one direction are unfavorable to the production or early development of genius, and hence it is found that a very large proportion of the really great poets, painters, and sculptors of the world have been born in the country, and very many have passed their early years there. Carroll County in this regard has been no exception to the rule. Artiste and poets have been born within her borders whom the world will not willingly let die, some whose works have received the approval of distant lands and whose names are spoken with homage in all cultivated households. The aggregations of books and master-pieces in large cities and the splendid advantages which wealth has extended through the instrumentality of schools of design, conservatories, and colleges makes it of the first importance that the devotees of art and literature should seek the great centers of civilization and avail themselves of the resources so lavishly supplied. True genius is never appalled by obstacles, and so it generally happens that those who recognize its promptings sooner or later work their way to the attainment of their wishes, and the city rather than the country is a gainer by their reputation. Few countries can present nature to the inspired student of art in more beautiful or more varied aspects than are to be found in Carroll County. Almost every phase of natural scenery is illustrated within her borders, from the landscapes of simple pastoral beauty to the rugged and sublime outlines of the lofty peaks of the Blue Ridge, and some of these scenes have been faithfully reflected in the works of her sons, who have sought the distinction elsewhere that they could not expect at home.
In 1850 there was to be seen at the Chesapeake Bank a sculptured bust of Andrew Jackson, which had been presented to Col. J. S. Gittings by the Messrs. F. M. & H. F. Baughman. It was the work of an apprentice to the Messrs. Baughman, named Reinhart. It was executed chiefly at night, after the hours of labor, and was the first effort of his chisel. " The excellence of the work gives promise of high attainment in this beautiful art, and leads us to hope that Maryland may yet be able to give to the world some enduring memento of the age in one of the most admirable departments of human genius." Such was the greetings of encouragement which the first work of young Reinhart received, and the contemporaneous description of the first work of his chisel.
William H. Reinhart was born in Carroll County, Md., about the year 1826; his father was a well-to-do farmer of German descent, living near Westminster, in that county, and characterized by thrift, perseverance, and economy. All the children were actively employed about the farm, and received the rudiments of an English education at a school in Westminster. When a mere boy young Reinhart evinced very great interest in the working of the marble quarries that abounded in the neighborhood, and in this particular he found opportunity for the bent of his genius in the quarry and stone-cutting yard on his father's farm. At the age of sixteen, with his father's consent, he came to Baltimore, and presented himself at the store of Andrew Gregg, on Franklin Street, to whom his father was in the habit of consigning produce of his farm. He told Mr. Gregg that he desired to apprentice himself to some useful trade, and preferred that of marble-working, with which he already had some familiarity. He was immediately taken to the marble-yard and stone-cutting establishment of Baughman & Bevan, and engaged as an apprentice by that firm. He proved himself to be a steady and industrious youth, with a taste for reading and study which he gratified at night by regular attendance at the Maryland Institute and School of Design, where his favorite studies were mythology, ancient history, anatomy, architecture, and books on art and artists. He continued the improving studies for several years, and before his majority his chisel and proficiency obtained for him the execution of all the fine work on mantles of the establishment of the Messrs. Baughman. When twenty-three years of age he was made foreman of the establishment and gave full satisfaction to his employers. In 1855 he left Baltimore for Italy to prosecute the higher studies of his art with a full knowledge of practical marble-working. He prosecuted his studies with great diligence at Florence, where he went to reside, working with other young artists on trial for wages. He returned to Baltimore in 1857, bringing with him two beautiful basso-relievos in panel of " Night and Morning," which were purchased by Augustus J. Albert. He returned to Italy in 1858, and made his residence at Rome, where he remained, with the exception of short trips to Baltimore, until his death in 1874.
Probably the greatest event in the life of the young artist was the unveiling of the Taney statue at Annapolis, Dec. 10, 1872. This heroic statue of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in bronze had been ordered by the Legislature of Maryland, and was erected in front of the State-House. On that occasion there were assembled in the Senate chamber the leading representatives of the State in politics, at the bar, in literature and art, to hear the addresses of S. Teackle Wallis and Governor William Pinkney Whyte. Mr. Wallis alluded to the fact that the appropriation by the State had not been sufficient compensation to the artist for such a work, and recognized the liberality and public spirit of the artist in accepting and executing the work notwithstanding. " The figure," Mr. Wallis said, " had been treated in the spirit of that noble and absolute simplicity which is the type of the highest order of greatness, and is therefore its grandest, though its most difficult, expression in art." In 1872 the statue of Clytie, which is Reinhart's masterpiece in marble, was exhibited in Baltimore, attracting the admiration of thousands of her people. It was purchased by John W. McCoy, and placed in the Peabody Gallery of Art as a gift to the citizens of Baltimore. Among the other works of this artist are the bronze doors of the Capitol at Washington, begun by Crawford, and completed after four years of labor by Reinhart; the statuettes on the clock of the House of Representatives, as well as the statue on the fountain in the General Post-office at Washington; Endymion, now owned by J. W. Garrett; Antigone, owned by Mr. Hall, of New York; Hero, for A. J. Albert, of Baltimore; Leander, owned by Mr. Riggs, of Washington; the Woman of Samaria, for W. T. Walters, of Baltimore; the bronze monumental figure at the tomb of Mrs. W. T. Walters, in Greenmount Cemetery; and the " Sleeping Children," in marble, in the lot of Hugh Sisson, as well as many other works in Mount Auburn