Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-02-24

| lTuSlIutlOn Oh u nlBn cuicoi'
Soon after his arrival home he wrote the
| young girl letter, bidding her adieu for
ever.
He saws; "Frederickas answer tore my
heart. now, for the first time, became
aware of her bereavement, and saw no
possibility of alleviating 1t. She was ever
in my thoughts. felt that she was want
ing to me, and worst of all, | could not
forgive myself. / had wounded to the
very depths one of the most beautiful and
tender of hearts, and that period of repent
ance, bcreit of the love which had support
ed me, was agonizing, intolerable. But
man will live, and hence took sincere in
terest in others, seeking to dsentangle
their ombarrassmeps and to unite those
about TO part, that they might not feel
what felt. Hence l got the name of the
coHddoM ON account of my wanderings
was also called the wanderer. | turned
more than ever to the open world and ma
ture, and there alone 1 found comfort.
| During my walks / improvised hymns and
1 di'hyrambs. One of these, THE Wander
| or Sturm- Lied yet remains. The bur
den of the song is, that man of genius
must walk resolutcly through the storms
of life"
No word of blame ever escaped Freder-
icka's lips, though Goethe himself says
that his desertion nearly cost her her life.
Retired from the world, in the sweet SOL
itude of her country home, she passed
| life beautiful in its unselfish devotion to
others. While he to whom she had given
her hearts first and only love stood upon
the dizzy heights of fortune, splendor and
renown, she was the benefactor of the poor,
the consoler 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 a refined, sensi-
tive nature; tender, loving womanly
heart, which was worthy of a better fate.
She was sought by others in marriage,
among whom was Gocthe's friend LEM;
but she declined all offers, saying, "Tho
heart that has loved Goethe can belong to
no other"
Eight years after their parting Goethe
again went to visit the family once so dear,
and the old scenes where the happiest mo-
ments OF his life had passed. lie was re-
ceived cordially by all, even by Freder-
| icka, who, he says, did not make the slight
est effort to rckindle within him the old
flame.
on the 9TH of April, 1915, Fredericka
Brion died in the little village of Sesen-
helm, which had been her home for many
years. Her life had been tranquil, and
her end was peace. The elder people of
the village still remember and speak low
ingly Of the "good Aunt Fredericka,"
whose many virtues and acts of unobtru-
sive charity had endearcd her alike TO
young and old.
She was laid to rest in the village church.
yard, and, in accordance with her dying
request. the only memorial above her
grave was a simple black cross, placed
there by the hands of those who had loved
her. but tne uerIIan youth, cnraptured
with the "Wahrheit und Dichtung" ftheir
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 fond
ly-had been so fondly loved by him. And
so the little black cross became the prey of
relic hunters, and for many years Freder-
icka Brion slept without any memorial
save that recorded 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 periodicals, solicited subscriptions
for n monument to her who had been the
first, best love of their great poet The
call met with u liberal and hearty response,
and on the 10Th Of August, 1866, the mon
ument. master-work of Honberg, was
unveiled in the presence Of large assem-
blage.
| The monument is simple yet noble, and
from a gold background near its summit
stands out in fine relief the bust of Fred
ericka. The features of the lovely face,
perhaps somewhat idealizod, 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
FREDERICK BRION.
a beam of the poet-sun fell upon her so
richly as to lend her Immortality.
To the olt-repeated questions, "Why was
Goethe so faithless to himself and her?
| Why did he not marry Fredericka?' the
most fitting answer may be found in the
| characters