Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-01-26
grave of ambition, the Illustration of

Soon after his arrival he wrote the
young girl letter, bidding her adieu
forever
He saws "Frederick' answer tore
my heart l now, for the last time, be-
came aware of her bereavement, and
saw no possibility OF alternating it. She
was ever in my thoughts. l felt that
she was wanting to me, and, worst of
all, I could not forgive myself. l had
wounded to the very depths one of the
most beautiful and tender of hearts,
and that period of repentance, bereft of
the love which had supported me, was
agoDizing, intolerable. But man will
live, and hence | took sincere interest
in others, seeking to disentangle their
ADVERTISEMENTS, and to unite those
about to part, that they might not feel
what l felt. Hence got the name of
the c0nfdant. On account of my wan
derings, was also called the wanderer.
| turned more than ever to the open
world and nature and there alone l
found comfort. During my walks 1
improvised hymns and dithyrambs.
One of these, fThe Wanderers Storm
Lied, yet remains. The burden of the
song is, that man of genius must walk
resolutely through the storms of life. y
No word of blame ever escaped Fred
enck s lips, though Goethe himself says
that his desertion nearly cost her her
life.
Retired from the world, in the sweet
solitude of her country home she passed
a life beautiful in its unselfsh devotion
/ to others. While to whom she had
given her hearts first and only love
stood upon the dizzy heights of fortune,
/ splendor and renoun, she was the BEN
! efactor of the poor, the consider of the
sorrowing, the friend Of all who were
desolate and oppressed.
There were depths in her character,
/ of which those who knew her only in
her careless, happy young girlhood,
little dreamed. She possessed IL refined,
sensitive nature; tender, loving, wo-
manly heart, which was worthy of a
4 better heart She was sought by others
/ in marriage, among whom was Goethe's
! friend LEM; but she declined all Of
/ fers, saying, "The heart that has loved
Goethe can belong to no other"
Eight years after their parting Coo
the again went to visit the family once
so dear, and the old scenes where the
happiest moments of his life had pass
ed. He was received cordially by all,
even by Fredericka, who, he says, did
not make the slightest effort to rekindle
within him the old flame.
On the 9TH of April, 1915, Frederick
Brion died in the little village of Sesen-
helm, which had been her home for
many years. Her life had been tram
qull, and her end was peace. The elder
people OF the village still remember and
speak lovingly of the "good Aunt
Frederlcka, whose many virtues and
acts of unobtrusive charity dad endear-
ed her alike to young and old.
She was laid to rest in the village
churchyard, and, in accordance with
her dying request, the only memorial
above her was simple black cross
placed there by the hands of those who
who had loved her. But the German
youth. enraptured with the " Wahrheit
ind Dichtung" of their greatest poet,
longed to behold the scene of the
sweetest idyl of his hfe--to visit the
spot where slumbered all earth could
hold Of her who had opce-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 for
many years, Fredericka Broin slept
without any memorial save that re-
corded in loving hearts
! A few years ago the Rhenish poet,
Hugo Oelbermann, and his friend,
Frederick Gessler, visited the spot, and,
| through the Gartenlaube, the most
widely circulated of German periodi-
Gals, solicited subscriptions for mon
ument to her who had been the first,
best love of their great poet. The call
met with liberal and hearty response,
and on the 18th of August, 1866, the
monument, Il master work of Honberg,
was unveiled in the presence of large
| assemblage
The monument is simple yet noble,
and from a gold background near its
summit stands out in fine relief the
/ bust of Fredericka. The features Of
! 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 the bust is this inscription:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
FREDERICKA BRIoN,
Z 4 I,,,,, ,r A. -, f,l1 .---..., l -.