Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-02-24
The Leisure Hour.
BRIO.v, .v,GOETIIErS
FIRST LORE.
BY FRANCIS a. SHAW.

"Iiappy is he" says Schiller, "whom the
gods love, even before his birth whom,
as a child, Venus cradles in her arms
whose eyes Ph9bus anoints, whose lips
Hermes touches, upon whose forehead
Jove presses the seal of power. An ex-
alted destiny shall ne his, for ere the be-
ginning Of the conflict his temples are
wreathed with bay
Such n favored one of heaven seemed
Goethe, whom Germany recognizes as her
greatest genius, and to whom the world
might justly assign place among modern
poets and dramatists second only to that of
Shakespeare.
The only son of a rich banker and impe-
rial counsellor, Johann Wolfgang Won
Goethe was born at Frank fort on the Main,
in the year l749 To this, her "Sunday
child" her darling, Nature came laden
with the choicest gifts. Beauty, wealth,
genius, friends, station-all were his. Life
was to be to him no ria doiOrOSd, up which
he must toll bearing the cross of neglect
and penury. The bitterness of feeling his
best efforts unappreciated, of seeing his
best thoughts fall cold upon the public ear
were never his. Poverty, which eats into
the sensitive soul of genius like canker,
and is sure to sadden if it does not harden,
he never knew. The upward path was
made smooth for him, while proud, loving
friends stood by to aid him in every earn
est work, to cheer him on to every high
endeavor.
Had he been less the grand, noble gem
1
| spoiled child of affluence and adulaton.
But he had high aims in life, higher than
pleasure, broader than power, and he could
not turn deaf ear to the voice within,
urging him on TO grand and noble things.
Conscious of his splendid gifts, he heartily
and exultantly set about his appointed
work.
"Oh, his pride, his sacred pride in his
beautyv writes 'the child" Bettina Won
| Arnim and the outward casket was in
deed worthy of the princely soul ii en-
shrned. The form, above the medium
height, was that of stalwart Hercules,
while the face and head had the ideal
beauty of an Apollo. The brow was high
and massive; the features were clear and
| finely cut, as in the models of classic art I;
! eyes large, deep, and lustrous the com
plexion fresh and glowing. 1t is said that
his personal appearance was so striking
that, whenever he entered public place,
even as stranger, all eyes were at once
| fixed upon him.
In youth he was "A wild, adventurous
fellow, whose slight regard to worldly con-
ventionalities greatly outraged his precise,
pompous old father. With years his man
ners grew courtly and dignifed, even
naughty; but his haughtiness was not that
| of thepdTpenu or coXcomb. He could look
beyond the surface, and his respect for
men was not based upon the station the
world assigned them. Worth and talent
to those he chose to fascinate, he was
through life the most fascinating of men
But this man, so favored by fortune, SC
exalted by genius, so idolized by his fell
lows, was, after all, a man with the usua
weaknesses and frailties, and among hi,
greatest faults, was untruth To the better
feelings of his own heart. Courted and en-
ressed by all, he was an especial favorit,
with women, and being much in society
no could be neither blind. nor deaf to theil
admiration. OF a susceptible, impulsiv,
nature, from youth to middle life he wal
continually falling in love. As he loved
readily, he forgot easily and most of hi
! attachments of this kind were very tran