HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 
64 
also painted by herself from a glass, occupied a good posi¬ 
tion. Bettina, as a young girl and an old woman, showed a 
lovely face with pathetic eyes. In age, the face was sorrow¬ 
ful. The library contains a large number of books and many 
objects of interest: Goethe’s court suit; his dressing-gown 
(light blue Japanese silk); the monastic gown of Luther, etc. 
An ivory walking-stick with a snuff-box in the handle, of Fred¬ 
erick the Great, is preserved in an upper room. It was in the 
possession of Liszt and given by him to the Museum. A belt of 
Gustavus Adolphus is shown. Portraits, miniatures, collections, 
many of them having been collected by Goethe or relating 
to him, give great interest to the room. A very original stair¬ 
case occupies the tower: sixty-four steps cut from one oak 
tree, arranged in a spiral around the centre of the trunk which 
has been carved in a turritine manner. It is said to have been 
the work of a prisoner. 
“The castle contains what are called the poet’s rooms. 
The Grand Dukes have collected pictures or other objects of 
interest relating to Goethe, Schiller, and Herder, and frescoes 
on the walls illustrate scenes from the writings of each. 
“To have missed Weimar would have been indeed an im¬ 
mense loss. For all time will my readings of Goethe recall 
this visit, and the sights that once influenced the poet will 
come to me and vivify each of the poet’s thoughts.” 
Leaving her colored maid, who was ill, at Weimar, she went 
alone the hour’s ride in a slow train to Jena with its four hun¬ 
dred-year-old university, famous as the place of the great 
naturalist, Ernst Haeckel. She was interested to see “the men 
along the road at the gates stand with their sticks in hand 
in military style,” and the “women trudging along, carrying 
immensely heavy baskets on their backs.” She noticed that 
the oxen at the plow were covered with bright-colored blan¬ 
kets, but a horse attached to a plow was not protected, and 
she explained the discrepancy by the supposition that “per¬ 
haps his actions are more lively and he is kept warm.” The 
approach to Jena reminded her of Spain. 
“The great antiquity of the town calls up such an unusual 
train of emotions. The high hills back give a grandeur to 
