Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-18


the Chicago Record-Herald.
lein Anna Elizabeth Schonemann. They
| were SO affected by THE Sorrows of
Werther" and the popular understanding
that the book related to Goethe'S personal
experience that they undertook to as
suage his grief, and were so successful
that he became engaged to both OF them
at the same time. How the complication
was som nntangied we do not know: After es
Miss Munich is found in his correspond
ence, but Miss Schonemann is immortal
lied in his works under the name of
"Lilf He was actually true to her for
year or two. until he went to Weimar
and there met Frau Won Stein, a hOf-
dame. or lady-in-waiting, to the Dowager
Duchess Amalia of Saxony. with whom
ne fell desperately in love almost at first
six years older than he and the mother
of seven little children. Her husband.
Baron Won Stein, was master-of-horse
FOR the Duke of Saxony and colonel of a
casions furnished the body guard of his
MAJESTY the grand duke. The baron's
indinerence to the notorious relations Of
his wife and Goethe is explained by his
devotion to another lady.
Goethe'S attachment for the Frau Won
stein lasted longer than those with other
women, and there are at least eight such
affairs to his credit or discredit. The
ancient dame who acts as custodian of
the Gartenhaus. in which Goethe used
to meet. Frau Won Stein, says that he
loved twelve women in his time and was
true to none of them. There is no doubt.
however, that his affection was genuine
and that it was returned by her. She
is the original Of the charming countess
IN William Meister," her husband is
the original of the eccentric count of
mat story. and several Of the most ex-
eitIns situations and incidents in the
ence. For a time, we are told. the i'm
prudence with which the l:aison was car
rleo on created great scandal at wei
mar and the Dowager Duchess Amalia
nations seem to have been exercised ,1nor
her IN such skillful and effective man
ner mat she soon came to encourage in
STEAD OF condemn the affair
Inc Baroness Won Stein was Scotch
woman. She was Miss Irving of Drum.
and sister-in-law Of
oaTOueSS Warren Hastings, who
von S+o;, was tried for treason by
~ the British parliament in
1883 in connection with the East India
service. She was not a beauty: and was
rather insignificant in appearance She
was fine musician, however q bril-
q
permanent, and, as one of Goethe's biog-
raphers says, handled him with the del
lcate tact of a perfectly charming wom-
an of the world The innocent Schiller
says: She is really genuine, inter-
estlng person, and I can quite under
stand what has attached Goethe to her.
Beautiful she can never have been, but
her counfenance has a soft earnestness
and peculiar Openness. A healthy un-
Outstanding. truth and feeling lie in her
nature. She has more than a thousand
letters from Goethe, and from Italy he
writes to her every week. They say the
connection is perfectly pure and blame
less"
Until he met Charlotte Irving Won
Stein, Goethe's flirtations had been lin
TIED to very young maidens, whose
youth. beauty and girlishness captured
his susceptible heart. He never knew
what human passion was until he met
this woman of culture and experience.
She made his love the qualification of
her life. and became the instructor and
critic Of his literary labors as well as
the companion of his most delicious
hours.
Her influence upon his work as we'll
as upon his habits was wholesome 1t is
impossible to conjecture what he might
have been had he continued his dissipa-
tions and not come under her refining
influence at that period of his life. He
was only twenty-siX years old. He had
already demonstrated his genius, but his
great work was yet to be done, and she
was largely responsible for it's extraor-
binary success.
Il
The circumstances under which Goethe's
relations with Charlotte Won Stein were
finally dissolved are rather
noa+ha,s vague. They began in
1775; they continued for
Son. more than twenty. years.
In the meantime, in 1889. Goethe had a
son by Christine Vulpius, his housekeeper,
an uneducated peasant woman. who came
into his kitchen as cook in 1888. In order
to legitimatize his son Goethe married the
mother October 10. 1906.
The sons name was julius Augustus
Walther Won Goethe. In 1917 he married
Ottilie Won Pogwisch, by whom he had
three children-Walthe Wolfgang Won
Goethe, born February 1S, 1878; Wolf
gang Ma Won Goethe. born September 70.
1920, and Alma Won Goethe. born October
49, 1927. Goethe's son inherited none of
his genius, nor did any of his grand
children show any literary ability. Both
julius and his children were evidently
commonplace sort of persons. resembling
his mother rather than his father. which
is usually the case.
julius died in Rome in 1880. Ottilie and
her children made their home with the
a woman Of culture, because We are told
that a literary club used to meet In her
sitting room, and that William Makepeace
Thackeray, the famous English author
and humorist, attended one of its ses-
sions and entertained the members with
his droll stories and sparkling wit. She
must have been a comfort to Goethe, too,
for she nursed him in his last sickness
and was alone with him when he died.
We have no knowledge Of the grand
daughter Alma. but the two grandsons,
Walther and Wolfgang. survived their
mother and occupied the house until their
death. Neither of them married. Both
were eccentric and misery in their hab-
it's. Walther died in 1883; Wolfgang fol-
lowed him in 1885. when the family be-
came extinct. BY a joint will they left
the house and all its contents to the
Grand Duke and Duchess Of Saxony in
trust forever for the benefit of the ma
ton.
The residence of Frau Won Stein is di-
rectly across the garden. and Goethe |
could look directly into her windows.
Christine Vulpius, who died in 1916, Is
buried in the churchyard of st. James, |
near the center of the city.
WILLIAM E. CURTIS.