The Yale expositor., 1919-04-17

WN Is the capllal OF tne uucny
OF Saxe-WGimar and which
was .selecteI as the meeting
place for the German national assem-
bly,, has long been denOmnated the
athens of Germany" 1t stands for
what was the best I'm German life.
For Weimar was once great CAPT
tai In the world OF letters; around
1t cluster many Of the finest recOl-
lectiOns and traditions of the Ger
many that was.
Goethe and Schiller. topmOst among
the German poets, lived and died
there. Some of the finest compo-
sitions of List and Mendelssohn were
conceived in Welmar. In this quaint
old town Schopenhauer dwelt in the
unutterable gloom that permeates his
philosophy. To It's restful solitude
and its greatest memories came Metz
sche, apostle Of dreadfulness, to die.
And il drew George Eliot, Thackeray,
Bayard Taylor and many other no.
tables of other lands who sought in
SEPARATION in this spot which had
lllt VI
day, remarks the Kansas City Star.
Where Famous Women Lived.
Weimar ii was which produced two
of the best remembered of German
women, the Grand Duchess Anna
Amalle, whose efforts gave Germany
its first real standing in art and let
tiers, and Charlotte Won Stein the
gifted, brilliant woman whom Goethe
loved long and in vain. All Germany
has laid homage at the feet of Duchess
Anna Amalie. And OF Charlotte Won
Stein it has been said that no other
woman, not even Dante's Beatrice
or Petrarch's Laura, has been so hon
ored in song.
All the glory OF Weimar belongs to
the time before the Prusslan arch
militarist and materialist. With the
ascendancy of the Hohenzollerns and
the elevation of force and greed above
the things of the mind and spirit Wei
mar faded into a background memory.
Its selection by the new government
as seat for dcliberatiOn may serve
to bring back to it some of its depart
ed glory.
The beginning of Weimar's great
ness came about 1856, when Anna
Amalie niece of Frederick the Great.
went there as bride of the duke.
She summoned Weiland, poet and stu
dent, to act as tutor for her boys.
Three years later young Goethe went
4 In
siedel, the poet, musician and actor ;
Bode, the translator of Smollett and
Gen vantes; Knebel, the classicist ;
Corona Schroter, the brilliant and
beautiful actress and singer; Herder,
tn, preacher poet and father of Ger
man folk song, and finally Schiller,
who eventually was to take rank with
Goethe.
Goethe the Master There.
The names of Goethe and Schiller
dominate WeImar. The former lived
in the town fifty-six years. He was
all things TO Weimar, the adviser OF
its rulers, architect of its chief struc.
lures, dictator of its thought, and
finally its greatest and best loved
memory. His house on the Goethe
Plata lis one of the towns sights,
and monuments of him occupy the
most prominent positions. Even his
garden house has been preserved In
reverent memory.
An Indication of the way In which
Goethe was regarded in old Weimar Is
| Cleaned from an oft told incident
| The poet coveted the house that later
was to be his. Its owner would MOI
sell to him, however. So Duke Kar
August went forth one day and un
tremendously took charge of tn,
house.
but me no butts" he replied to thu
! reluctant owner. Goethe wants Il
and we must give 1t to him or W.
shall not keep him."
The thousands of letters the adorn,
Goethe wrote to Charlotte Won SteiI
all are kept In the building tina
houses the Goethe and Schiller ar
chives. For ten years he paid de
voted court to her, but she WINS tn
wife of another man and. although
she valued the homage of this man
who was one Of the handsomest an'
most distinguished In Europe, II I
generally believed that she did not II
any way return his affections.
carIyIe's Tribute to Schiller.
Schiller's old home has been bough
by the town and converted into
museum. His rooms are almost as h
left them, the floors bare, the cellin,
low and the furniture scrnty. plat
and almost primitive. OF this plae
Carlyle has written: