Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-07
upon the observer. but none the less was II
pleasing, impressive, unforgettable

upon the observer. but none the less was it
pleasing, Impressive, unforgettable
X
Schiller's birth Cat Marbach, Wurtemburg,
november TO- 17o9) nearly comedies with
that OF another poet Of the human heart,
Robert Burns; 1t preceded that of Napoleon
by about ten years. The boys father, Cas-
par, had left the army to become overseer
of the great place of Karl Eugen. ruler of
the duchy; the mother was lust a good
hearted German housewife the uneduca ted
daughter OF a humble baker. But it was
from this mother that Friedrich received
thoSe attributes which were to lift him head
and shoulders above the vast majority of
the men of his day. She dearly loved poetry.
ana held moral strength above ALI else, and
these things came naturally to the son who
was SO close to her. AS one thinks of
Goethe In his innate worship of the beauty
OF symmetry, so one cannot think of
Goethes intimate, Schiller without endow-
Ing him first of all with his passion for free
dom and his respect for womanhood-and
these gifts were his because of his mother.
For fourteen years life smoothly at
Marbach If that nation be happiest which
has no history, and II this be as true Of the
individual. then Schiller's boyhood, of
which so little Is known, must have been
happy. indeed. He studied with Moser, the
parish priest; he went to the Latin school
In nefghbortng Ludwigsburg-and the world
must guess the rest But with 1773 came a
change. In that year the boy was solemnly
entered at Duke Karfs pet Academy of In
struction at Stuttgart. Those youthful
dreams of studying for the ministry with
a pastoral office which might also bring
harmony and quiet literary pursuits were
not to be- Instead was forced upon the
young man-yet scarcely that-the monot-
onous routine of a formal military disci-
pine, padded out with long hours of uncon-
genial labors in the study Of the law. This
iast was eventually changed for medicine,
put that was but scant gain; repression of
thought and action ruled in the silly little
court of petty tyrant-petty In all he did
and said as In the land he misgoverned. It
was but a question of time till the great
mind should break from beneath such bond
age.
Schiller had already been driven into him
self In search OF ideals which might more
nearly correspond with his dreams and i'm
aginings than the mercenary, serytle life
about him. He made two essays in dra-
matte form-''The Student of Nassau" and
"Cosimo de Medici'-both of which he had
burned at their completion, but in 177S this
poet OF nineteen voiced the reaction from
oppression In 1.-The Robbers ITO escane
from the formaHties Of discipline which
was odious to my heart" he wrote. II
sought a retreat In the world Of ideas and
shadowy possibilities, while as, yet I knew
nothing at all Of the human world from
which was harshly secluded by iron bars"
The volcanic play which is now considered
his first, with Its unsuccessful imitation of
Shakespeare. was published in $780, and all
the youth of the land fastened to hall 1t
with an applause almost as tempestuous
as the theme and treatment OF the work It.
SELF The Duke of Wurtemburg was alarm
ed. Here was something audacious. self
willed, revolutionary. within his very house
hold. His serene highness summoned the
author before him. reprimanded him Sc
yerely. babe him write nothing more that
did not bear upon his medical studies and
IN score OF lesser ways made more irk-
some than ever the dreary, cabined life that
had Just tasted OF free expression
In 1852 1.-THE Robbers" was acted at
Mannheim and the author was In the au-
dfence. triumphantly happy-but this second
breach OF the narrow etiquette of the ducai
court led to imprisonment. Then came the
opportune call of a neighboring princeling-
ana IN the excitement and confusion the
prisoner escaped-and so began thirty three
years OF an unfettered. glorious career.
He lived for time In Meiningen. mas
querading under the incognito OF .Bauer
oach, and there completed his '.Fiesco,'
ana intrigue and Love" Each was pre-
posterous. overstrained and weak Then
IT was Mannheim again. with an interiude
brought by transient love affair with
Laura Daiberg, daughter of that friendly
theater director who had brought out ..The
Robbers. It was, however, merely the
passing infatuatton of youth of twenty
four. and soon he was back again In the
harness of dramatic idealism with Don
carlos under hand. That was the turning |
point. 1t was forceful. but Its power was |
under due restraint. while it first brought |
into Schiller's work a subtility definitely
marking the death of that extravaganza !