Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-02-01

above her was simple black cross
placed there by the hands of those who
who had loved her But the German
youth, enrapttired with the s' Wahrheit
und Dichtung' of their greatest poet,
longed to behold the scene of the
sweetest idyl of his life-to visit the
spot where slumbered all earth could
hold of her who had once. loved Goethe
SO fondly-had been so fondly loved by
him. And SO the little black cross be.
came the prey of relic hunters, and fol
many years, Fredericka Broin slept
without any memorial save that re-
corded in loving hearts.
A few years ago the Rhenish poet,
Hugo Oelbermahn, and his friend,
Frederick Gessler, visited the spot, and,
through the Gartenlaube, the most
widely circulated of German periodi-
Gals, solicited subscriptions for mon
,tm,ent to her who had been the first,
best love of their great poet. The call
met with a liberal and hearty response,
and on the 18th of August, 1866. the
monument, master work of Honberg,
was unveiled in the presence of a large
assemblage.
The monument is simple yet noble,
and from gold background near it's
summit stands out In fine relief the
bust Of Fredericka. The features 0i
the lovely face, perhaps, somewhat
idealized, glow almost with the light OF
TRANSPORTATION, and we marvel not that
she was the first, perhaps the one true
love of the great poets life.
Beneath Che biist is this Inscription
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
FREDERICK BRION,
A beam of the poet sun fell upon her
so richly as to lend her immortality.
To the oft-repeated question, "Why
was Goethe SO faithless to himself and
her? Why did he not marry Freder=
icka2n the most fitting answer may be
found in the words he puts into the
mouth of one of his characters
Marry What, marry Just at the
time when life opens to youa To coop
yourself up at home before you have
gone over half your wanderings or ac-
complished half your conquests That
you leve the girl is natural; that you
promised her marriage is the act o q
mailman
"There is more truth than poetry in
these words,p coollX remarks one OF
Goethe's apoleglsts. cit is, at any
rate, by no means evident to me that
infdelity to his genius would not have
been a greater crime than infidelity to
his mistress.
Says another 'sMarriage was a
phantom from which he shruhk. Eros,
with folded bow and broken wing,
was to him all image Of feaf!h
But marriage with Frederick Brion,
the woman who loved and appreciated
and gloried in him, would have been no
infidelity to his genius, no Illustration
to his high career.
His biographer, Lewes, says: He
knew little, and that not until late in
life, of the subtitle Intervening of
habit with affection, which makes life
saturated with love, and love itself be-
COMES dignifed through the serious
aims of life He knew little of the ex-
quisite companionship of two souls
striving in emulous spirit of loving
rivalry to become better, teaching each
other to soar! He knew little of this,
Fredericka, and the life of sympathy
he refused to share with thee is want
ing to the greatness of his works.
Had he early in life married Freder-
icka, he would have been saved from
many an idle Irritation, and from that
hopeless passion for Charlotte Buff, the
heroine Of his "Sorrows of Werther, -
who, being engaged to another, was
l., I, ID chn
free," says one of his biographers, "he
would, in all probability, have left her
as he did Fredericka.
Had Fredericka been the guardian
genius of his life, that brilliant, fascin-
ating, intellectual, but unprincipled
married woman of the world, the Bar
oness Won Stein, would not for twelve
years have exercised such influence
over him. and he would have escaped
that unlawful connection with Christina
Vulnius, woman in every respect un-
worthy of him, which, after long years,
ended in marriage whose wretched
ness he vainly tried to hide from the
world. rssA 70
The great poet and royal councillor,
amid all his worldly fame and honor,
KNEW nOGnlnS OF Uno uellSntS Oh IL we'll
ordered, peaceful home, to which he
could turn from the worlds turmoil fol
rest and happiness; he had no congo
NAL heart to share his joys and sor
rows, to glory in his success. And So
without having ever harbored malice
against him who had blighted hel
young life, Fredericka Brion was
avenged. ErEEs
For seventeen years she had beer
sleeping peacefully in the little church
yard at Sesenheim when Goethe's sum
mons came. In 1882, full of years and
honors, his mind undimmed, his natur
al force unabated, the great poet died
He died TRANQUILITY, painlessly, leav
ing name linked to immortalit,
through those great works which have
left their impress on his own age, ant
will help to mould the thought of al
the ages yet to come.
But the great poet, the transcenden
genius, and the sweet, gentle woman
unknown save that her humble name il
linked to his, are equals in the sight O