The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-08-24
A GERMAN LEGEND.

The vanity of the fair sex, it is said, il
OF the same age as the sex itself A clev.
er writer, in defending This trait of the
feminine character, las said that it con-
stitutes its greatest charm that without
it the sex would lose half its attraction
and IN support of this theory there is the
old quaint story of the German maiden
a history which is so tender and pretty
that it is worth rescuing from the for.
gotten legends of the Fatherland.
A maiden lived on the banks of the
Rhine with her father, the miller Now
the maiden, whose name was Elise, was
not pretty and she was cross AMI fretfuI
for she grieved Tor her own lack of beau
ty, and thought that none would ever
care for her on account of the few graces
nature had given to her; so she did not
even try to please, and yet her heart was
very large and very kindly. She spent
half her time in front Of her looking
glass, lamenting her plainness, and
thinking how impossible it was that
Carl would ever learn to love her, while
Gretchen, who was so fair and pretty
that she was called "The Daughter Of
Spring" dWelt near her. Elise was not
love. She always fancied that 1T would
be in vain to endeavor to please in vain
to be kind, and thoughtful, and loving
When Nature had so slighted her. who
could care for her, or think of her, OF be
interested in her? "Ah!" she sighed one
day, off l could but have Gretcben's
beauty, l should be the happiest girl in
the Fatherland, for then I should not
fear any rival and Carl-sunny haired
Cartwright love me-" But Carl never
came near her now, and only thought of
her as cross and fretful Elise, and wish
ed Gretchen had had less vanity with
her pretty face, and a rather larger heart
in her slim body.
One day-it was in the time IF the vim
tage-Elise went down to the Rhine to
bring in water, and, as she dipped her
pals in the clear rlDples, she saw her
own face reflected, and turned away,
wretched and discontinued. She sat
down Gil a rocky stone, and watched the
sunlight playing on the castle-crowned
hills, and listened to the far off song of
the workers in the vineyards; and she
thought OF Carl, who was there also.
"Ah me, she sighed, "what gift is
beauty!"
elise" said voice, and, looking up,
she saw an old woman, q very old de-
| formed woman, standing near to her
Elise" she said II will tell you the
secret of beauty, and you shall obtain all
that you wish for SO much. Go home,
and never look in a glass, never see the
reflection of your face in the water, never
once again gaze on your own features,
and you will grow pretty so pretty that
you will wonder at the change; and Carl
Carl will learn to love you
ooh, will never sec my face again as
long as live-never, never" said Elise
"But are you sure, quite sure ?"
"Quite sure" replied the dame ''but
remember, if you once. see your own face
your ugliness will return. Now go home,
and be light Of heart; and every day
your love of beauty will grow less, and
every day his love will hover round you. +"
"But how shall know that it is true,
if cannot see my face?" asked Elise.
"Can you not tell by the altered man.
ner of those around you?" said the dame.
ooh, yes" said Elise; show will
watch theml"
Elise went home with q new and
strange happiness at her heart,-a hap
pines. that changed her nature and in
f1uence every day OF her life, and made
her amiable, and soft, and loving, and
kind, and considerable, and anxious TO
please, and ready to serve and help
others.
Presently people began to remark the
alteration in the miller's daughter, and
to tell her how different she was form
erly, and the maidens sought her out and
talked to her about her lovers, and the
youths declared that Elise, the miller's
daughter, was the incest girl that side of
the Rhine, and Carl began to think how
different she was from Gretchen, and he
learned to love her, and through the
Fatherland there was not so happy
girl as Elise. And all this time she
never once saw her own face but turned
away her head when she dill ped h r pail,
in the stream, and through Ill the mil
ler's house there was not to be found q
looking-glass. She longed (ah, how
much y to see herself in her new garb of
beauty; but she membered the old
woman's warning, and conquered her
desire.
In the spring time come her wedding.
day, and early in the sweet fresh morn
+ ing she was married to Carl, and the
young flowers peeped out to see her face
as she passed by, and the tender grass
kissed her feet as she went along, and
the birds sang out q greeting, and even
the light feathery clouds seemed to stoop
over her head, as if with their feathery
hands they blessed her bridal day. All,
happy Elise .a8.a.2 2s1 .s'4.
"Thou art so changed said Carl.
"Thy face is so different from what it
formerly was. 1t does not seem possible
| thou art the same Elise I used to pass