Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-01-26
From Appletons' journal FOR January 81.
FREDERiCkA BRION, G0E'HEs
FIRST LOVE.

arms whose eyes PhGbus anoiDts /;
whose lips Helnes touches; upon
whose forehead Jove presses the seal OF
power. An exhalted destiny shall be
his, for, ere the beginning of the con
nict, his temples are wreathed with
bay"
Such favored one of Heaven seemed
Goethe, whom Germany recognizes as
her greatest genius, and to whom the
world might Justify assign II place
among modern poets and dramatists,
second only to that of Shakespeare.
The only son of rich banker and
imperial counsellor, Johann Wolfgang
Won Goethe was born at Frankfort on
the Main in the year ITI9 10 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 dDlor9s0, MP which he must toll,
bearing the cross of neglect and perjury.
The bitterness of feeling his best efforts
uaappreciated, of seeing his best
thoughts fall cold upon the public ear,
We're never his. Poverty, which eats
into the sensitive soul OF genius like a
canker, and is sure to sadden, if it does
not harden, he never knew. The up
ward path was made smooth for him,
while pcoCd, loving friends stood by to
aid him in every earnest work, to cheer
him on to every high endeavor.
Had he been less the grand, no.
BILE genius he was, he might have
become the spoiled child of ahluence
and adulation. But he had 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 lofty things. Conscious
of his splendid gifts, he heartily and
exultantly set about his appointed
work.
ooh, his pride his sacred pride in
his beauty ~ writes "the Child" Bet
tina Won Amin and the outward cas-
ket was indeed worthy of the princely
soul it enshrined The form, above
the medium height, was that of stall
wart Hercules, while the face and head
had the ideal beauty of an Apollo. The
brow was high and massive; the fea-
lures We're clear and finely cut, as in
the models of classic art; the eyes
large, deep, and lustrous; the com
plexion fresh and glowing. 1t is said
that his personal appearance vas 50
striking, that whenever he entered II
public place, even rs stranger, all
eyes were ut once fixed upon him.
In youth he was wild, adventurous
fellow, whose slight regard to worldly
conventionaltics greatly outraged his
precise, pompous old father. With
years his manners grew courtly and
dgniied, even naughty; but his
haughtlness was not that of the par
UeaH or cox-comb. He could look be-
yond the surface, and his respect for
men was not based upon the station
the world assigned them. Worth and
talent guided him in the choice OF
friends, and, to those he chose to fas-
cinate, he was through life the most
fascinating of men.
But tins man, SO favored by fortune,
so exalted 10y genius, so idollzed by his
fellows, was, after all, n man with the
usual weaknesses and frailties, and
among his greatest faults, was untruth
to the better feelings of his own heart
Courted and caresscd by all, he was an
ing much in society, he could be Meth
er blind nor deaf To their admiration
OF susceptible, impulsive nature,
from youth to middle life he was con
tinualiy falling III love. As he loved
readily, he forgot easily, and most OF
his attachments of this kind were very
transie / but there was one deeper
and more euduring-his first rcul love,
and his best. OF this We purpose to
speak briefly.
In his twenty second wear young
Goethe went to Strnsbourg to complete
his law studies mt the University. One
pleasant October day he was invited by
his friend Wieland to ride over t
Drusenhein, lovely country village
lying III one of the most delightful Tt
gicns Of Alsace, and pay II visit to Pas
tor Brion, the spiritual shepherd of tina
rural community.
The Brtous, III their simple, refined
cheerful home life, forcibly reminded
the young student of the charming fam
ilr il Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake
field. In Pastor Brion and his excel
lent wife he saw the good Vicar and hi
spouse Salome, the elder daughter
he called Olivia; Fredericka, tn
younger, sophia; and, when the oni
son and brother appeared he coul
scarce help eXclaiming, Moses an
are you here, too g
Fredeucka, romping young girl {
sixteen, upon his arrival, was, as usua
absent on her outdoor wanderings. A
ter while she came tripping into tn
= L. III i l.. !
presence of the aristocratic Young gel
An, - Ia I, r,,,l,