The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-03-09


he dizzy heights Of fortune splendor and
renown, she was the benetactor of the
poo, the consoler OF the snrrowing, the
friend ofall VINO were desolute and op
pressed.
There were depths in her chaoActer
OF which those who knew her only in her
careless, happy young girlhood, little
dreamed. She possess Il refined,
sensitive nature tender, loving, wo.
manly heart, which was worthy of bet
ter heart. She was sought Ivy offers in
lnarriage among whom was Goethe's
friend LEM; but she declined all of
FRS spying, 9. The heart that his loved
Goethe can belong to no other"
Eight years after this parting Goethe
gain went to visit the family once So
3ilar, and the old scenes where the hap
piest moments Of his life had passed. He
was received cordially by all. even by
FrederIcka, who. he says, did not make
rhe slightest, effort to .rekindle within
.Gjn lie old flame.
On the 9Th If April 1915, Fredrricka
Bri n died in the little village Of Sesen-
sin which had been her h nne for many
years. Her he had been tranquil Yod
her end was peace The oldgr peoIie
If the village still remember and speak
lveingly of the good Aunt Frederick,
whose many virtues and acts of unobrrn-
We charity had endeared her alike to
Y ,ung aid Old.
She was laid TO rest in the village
Echurchyatd, and, in accordance with her
dying request, the only memorial above
her was II simpIe black cross p ced
there by the hands OF those who had L1v-
ed her. But the German youth, enrapt-
ured with th9 f" WahrhcIt aud D1chtung'
OF their gratest poet, longed to behold
ithe scene ofthe sweetest idyl Of his life
ear could hold of har VINO had once
| loved Goethe SO fondy-.had been Sc
fondly loved by him. And 81 the littlt
I'bi ,ck cross became the prey Of relic hun
lers, anu for many Years, Fredericka
| Broln slept without any memorial save
thst recorded in loving hearts. ~
A few years ago The Rhenish poet
Hugo OeIbermann, and his, fri nj, Fred
erick Gessler, visited the spot, and
| through the GarteHlaube, the mos
widely circlated Of German periodicals
solicited subscriptions FIR Il monumen
to Der who had been the first, best love
ST tLeir great poeG The call met witt
y liberal and hearty response, and ~
the. Is h of Aus ust. 1866, The monument
IA master work of Honberg, was unvail
cd in the presence of a large Assem-
| blage
The monument is simple yet noble,and
| from a gold background near its sum
NIT stands out in fine relief the bus
Of Fredtrlcka. The features Of a Lowell,
| face, perhaps. somewhat ldeaIized glow
almost with the light of TRANSPORTATION
land we marvel not hat she was the first
Ipcrhaps The one true love of the great
p, cts life.
Beneath the bust is this inscription:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
FREDERICKA BRIoN.
A beam of the poet sun fell upon he
so richly as to lend her immortality
To the oft.repeated question, 8 Why
was Gaethe so fa,thless to himself ane
her Why did he not marry Freder
icka p the most fitting answer may bt
found in tAe words he puts into til,
mouth of one of his characters:
+" Marry What, marry just at tn,
time when life opens to ynn ? To cool
! yourself up at home before you have
gone over half your wanderings or &C.
colpplished half your conquests Thai
you love the girl is natural that yor
promised her marriage is the act of 3
madman."
There is more truth than poetry in
these words" coOlly remarks one OF
Goethe's apologists g 1t is, at any rat,
| by no means evident to me that infdelity
To his genius would not have been !
greater crime than infiielity to his mis-
! tresS.'
Says another: {" Marriage was phan
tom from which he shrunk. Eros. with
! folded bow aud broken wing, was to HIM
an image of fear p
But marriage with Fredericka Brion
the woman who loved and appreciated
and gloried in him, would have been M
inidelity to his genius, no Illustration to
! his high career.
His biographer, Lawes, says: s He
knew little, and that not until late in
| life, 9th subtle Interviewing of habit
with affection, which makes life saturated
with love, and love itself becomes dig.
Unified through the serious aims Of life
He knew little of the exquisite com
panionship of two souls striving IN
emulous spirit Of loving rivalry to becom-
better, teaching each other to soar He
knew little of this Fredericka, and the
lie OF sympathy he refused TO share with
her is wanting to the greatness OF his
works"
Had he in early life married Frederick,
he would have been saved from many an
idle Irritation, and from that hopeless
passion for Charlotte Buff, the heroine
OF his g Sorrnwn of Werther," who
being engaged to another, was beyond