The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-01-19
JOHANNA sEBUS.

The poet Goethe tells sad aud beau.
tiful story--and il is the more sad aud
beautiful because it is true--of young
girl, Johanna Sebus, who, in the year
1909, when the sea broke down the dykes
aud overaowed her native village, proved
herself worthy Of great poets song.
johanna, or Joanna, as we would CAL
her, was only seventeen years old, but no
ono iu the village had the noble spirit,
and quiet courage Of this strong, true
hearted girl.
When the waters rose around the hous.
es, and the waves washed up to the very
door.steps. johanna knew that there was
no longer safety, excepting on the high
grounds near the village, But how were
they to reach those high grounds The
water was nearly knee deep and rising
every moment, The roaring and surging
OF the waves and the wind was heard iu
every direction, and the dyke was giving
way, piece by piece, before the rushing
flood. Every moment the danger increas.
ed. There was no time to hesitate.
Johanna's mother, an aged woman,
could not force her way through those
raging waves. But johanna was tall
and strong. She took her mother 10 her
arms and stepped boldly into the water.
The waves dashed against her, but she
pressed on. Her neigbbors, mother and
three children, seeing her leave them.
were seized with a sudden terror. Not
1ntil this moment did they know how
much they depended on the brave Johan.
ua the only person 10 whom they could
look for counsel or help 10 this hour Of
peril.
After word or two OF encouragement
to her mother. who trcmbled as she saw
the waters boiling beneath her. - so terri
bly, near to her. johanna tnrned to her
neighbors and called to them TO fly to the
hill close by, which was yet dry, and
would afford them safety Tor time, and
assured them that she would return 10
them W hen she had placed her mother oa
the high ground. "And my poor goat, she
cried. as She heard her favorite bleatiug
after her; lake him with You; don't
leave him 10 de-"
As soon she reached place of safe-
ty, Johanna set her mother upon the
ground. and, without moments pause,
turned around to hurry back through the
deepening water Her old mother
cried out
"Oh where arc you going? The path
is washed away. Oh, my daughter will
yon 20 into that dreadful food again ?"
"Mn'her, they must be saved 90 said
Jona"", she plunged into the water,
by int t'n= more than knee.deep,
The dyke Was on the point of giving
away entirely. \ bill Of water seemed
roaring and foaming towards the village.
But johanna pressed on over tho path
which she knew SO well, although it was
now covered with water. The waves
dashed against her, almost knocking her
down aud drenching her from head to
foot. At last she reached the little hill
where she had left her neighbors. But
almost at this moment the dyke gave
way mad deluge rushed in sweeping
everything before it, and around the little
hill soon boiled turbulent sea, rising
above its highest point.
As the great waves roll over the ground
on which they stand, clinging in terror to
each other. Johanna's poor neighbor and
her children cannot keep their foothold.
They are washed away, and disappear
beneath the raging food. AS they sink
one OF the children seizes the goat By one
horu aud drags him down Thus, all but
johanna are lost.
Johanna stands alone, still : firm and
strong but the waters are rising aud ris.
ing around her.
Who is there now 10 save this noble
girl? She has many friends and mauy
lovers, but 30 one of them comes to her
now. Nothing comes to her but the salt
angry waves. Nowhere can she see even
boat.
She casts one look up TO heaven, and
and then the waters surge fercely against
her, and she is gone
Now, nthing is to be seen where the
village but wild waste of waters, with
here and there a steeple or a tree rising
up above the food
But as the survivors gaze upon the
widespread desolation, the thought OF the
brave and beautiful girl who gave her
life for others throws deeper gloom up.
on the mourniul scene
And even when the waters suhside aud
the land reappears, no one who knew 10
hanna can be glad. They weep for her
and cannot forget her.
This is sad story of noble girl. On.
ly those why have read it as Goethe so
tenderly and dramatically tells it in his
poem, johanna Sebus," can appreciate
its true pa;hos and force