Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-19
Meeting With Goethe.


Schiller's acquaintance with Goethe be-
gan at Jena in 1894, while Schiller was
professor of history in that institution.
1t was through the influence OF Goethe
that Schiller came to Weimar, where he
was given pension by the grand duke
and assisted Goethe in the management
opportunities to write. and he made
the best of them. The relations be-
tween the two poets ripened into one
OF the most beautiful and enduring friend
were as different in disposition. character.
morals and habits as two poets could
possibly be. Schiller was tall. spare,
pale and inclined to stoOp. His face was
very serious, but his blue eyes were full
OF fire. He wore sad expression ha-
bitually. but was genial and gentle He
had more refinement than Goethe, but
lacked the same breadth of vision and
vitality. He was man of pure thoughts
and clean life, which Goethe was not. He
sang the triumphs of virtue and patriot
ism, and loved to create lofty types of
manhood and womanhood The charac-
ters he portrayed and the sentiments
breathed in his poems were very different
from those of Goethe's. He was a man
OF the people. Goethe was more of the
aristocracy. He stirred the hearts of
the masses more powerfully than Goethe
or any other poet in the German Ian
guage. They were never rivals, but
their influence upon each other was to
the advantage of both. Schiller's pure
thoughts and lofty ideals ennobled
Goethe, while the latter's buoyant vitanty
stimulated his weaker and more effemi-
nate friend
Schiller did his best work during the
last few years of his life, but he was
already broken in health when he came
to Weimar, worn out by overwOrk.
frail frame inhabited by a great spirit.
The double monument erected in Wei
mar in 1851 in honor of the two poets il
illustrates In a striking manner their phys
ical unlikeness.
The celebration of the centennial of
Schiller's birth in 1859 resulted in the
erection of many monuments to his honor
in all parts of the world, for no poet has
ever been more generally recognized. The
best statue is by Thorwaldsen, at Stuff
CART. and the best bust. by Denecker, Is
in the museum at Weimar.
The University of Jena.
The University of Jena was founded in
1913 by the EIector of SaXony, and at
one time was an institution OF great i'm
portance. 1t now has q faculty of 116 pro-
fessors, and during the winter semester
of 19091O had $40 students.
Jena is a town of $4,000 inhabitants
which dates back to the ninth century
and has many attractions. Most of the
people are engaged in small manufacture
ing and the country round about Is rich
in agriculture. The university has a new
building with a lofty tower. completed
in 19Os-one of the best scholastic struc-
lures in Europe. The Rathaus Is a splen-
did specimen of the pointed Gothic, dat
ing from 144O. The university library,
which contains 2jO.O0O volumes and many
valuable prints, is also a fine example of
the pointed Gothic architecture, and sew
eral other buildings are much admired.
The market place, which is crowded with
hucksters two mornings in the week, has
fine statue of the Grand Duke John
from 1880 to 1854 and was the founder OF
the university. The Stadtkirche, also
fifteenth century building, contains statue
Of Martin Luther in relief. originally de-
signed for his tomb, at Wittenberg, but
placed here in 1871. Near the university
building Is monument erected in 1888
to commemorate the valor of the students
in the cause of national liberty.
Schiller appears in every direction. The
house in which he lived when he was
professor Is still preserved precisely as it
was when he left it. and is filled with
relics of his career. The grove in which
he wrote "Wallenstein'' in 1913 Is marked
with a bust. In the suburb of Volkstedt,
where he used to go in the summer. the
house he occupied is also maintained as
a museum. with his room. writing table
and chair as they were in 17SS, when he
last occupied it.
There are tablets on other houses to re-
mind the students and the public of the
great men who have been at Jena, and
the battlefield where Napoleon won a vic
tory over the Prussians October IA, 1905.
Is marked in an intelligent and per-
manent manner for the benefit of mill
tary men. On this occasion God was on
the side of the heaviest battalion. for
Napoleon had $1,000 men, and Prince
Hohenlohe, his opponent, had only 1900
PrusSians.
Next to the university, the most i'm
portant institution in Jena is a manu-
factory Of optical instruments, which has
been running for sixty or seventy-five
years or more. and now employees 1900
men. 1t is probably the largest and most
important establishment of the kind in
Europe, and is regarded as model par
ticularly in the arrangements made by
the proprietors for the benefit of the
workmen.
In the suburbs of Jena the Tame inn
bears tablet to inform all whom it may
concern that Goethe once resided there
and composed the "Erl King in the gar