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376 FRAU BATH.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
¦ • -«^> — ¦ — Of All The Women Who In G...
Goethe inherited from lier .. In the same way she _recognised at a later period the gigantic greatness of Napoleon and the practical
genius of her own son . Her father , the councillor , who as one of the first officials in
Frankfort , had every evening to make a report to the emperor , soon gained the affection and esteem of his master ; and it is characteristic
as well of Herr Textor as of his age , that he declined the emperor's offer to knight him . " For then , " said he < s no honest citizen would
, think of asking one of my four daughters in marriage , nor _"would a nobleman do so , because I have no fortune to make up for the
customary line of ancestors . " Thus Elizabeth grew up a modest , loveable girl . She combined a gentle heart "with a lively and cheerful
spirit , a pure and trusting mind with straightforward and pleasant manners .
On the 10 th of August , 1747 , the councillor was made Lord-Mayor , ( Burgemeister ) the highest official dignitary in Frankfort .
, Late at night a messenger came to announce that his predecessor had died and that the senate was convoked for the following day .
The wind had extinguished the messenger ' s lantern , and half asleep Herr Textor exclaimed from his bed , " Give him another candlethe
, man has had all this trouble for my sake only ! " No one paid any attention to this remark , except Elizabeth , who relied as fully upon
her father ' s prophetic giffc _, as ever a trusting damsel did upon a fortune-teller . Hardly had Herr Textor lefb the house on the following
morning to attend the meeting , -when she began to dress herself as handsomely as possible . Her mother and sisters , who used to call
her a princess and offcen reproved her on account of her extreme dislike for domestic duties and her predilection for dress and reading
, thought she had gone mad . However she did not stir from the great leathern armchair in which she had enthroned herself near the
window , with a book in her hand , but gaily exclaimed , " You will soon have to hide yourselves behind the curtains , while I am
ready to receive them . There indeed they are ! " And to the astonishment of mother and sisters , they beheld Herr Textor as
Burgemeister in the midst of all his officials , moving in stately procession to his house .
It must have been shortly before this event , that Johann Kaspar Goethe , son of Friedrieh George Goethe , who had been a tailor , and
who was then the proprietor of the inn " Zum Weidenhof , " attracted by the lovely girl , aspired to her hand . He combined with the
advantages of a thorough education and a handsome fortune , good looks and manners , and since Elizabeth ' s parents regarded the offer
as suitable for their daughter , his thirty-seven years were no more taken into consideration than her will or affections . She was only
seventeen years old , and , though she did not love the man to whom she was soon to be wedded , she submitted to her fate with a patience
which partly arose from the strict obedience and reverence to her father in which she had been brought up , and partly from a full ¦ *
376 Frau Bath.
376 FRAU BATH .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1859, page 376, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021859/page/16/
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