THE BIRTH OF THE YEAR.

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BY HERBERT ENKERT.

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[SEE ENGRAVING.]

The moon was sinking down the west,

And slowly, through the eastern way,

Aurora Borealis-like,

Arose the delicate light of day.

The countless spheres that jeweled space,

A proud, exulting anthem sung,

As into life the youthful Year

With more than mortal beauty sprung.

Beneath his Predecessor lay;

Twelve cycles had he seen go by,

And now his aged, withered form

Was stretched in death athwart the sky.

The young Year gazed upon his face,

The dew of tears was in his eyes,

When, looking up, he saw the shape

Of hoary Saturn fill the skies.

And Saturn crowned the youthful Year,

And placed the sceptre in his hand,

And bade him journey, day by day,

And month by month, from land to land.

With counsels garnered from the Past,

Those counsels only age can give,

He taught him how to pass through life —

To live as only good men live.

And then he sent him forth. The youth

Sprung lightly on his Orient way,

Saluting the arising sun,

Bird-like, with many a matin lay;

Behind him lay the shrouded dead,

Before, Sahara-like, was space;

But, like a man, the boy strode on,

With hopeful heart and radiant face.

ADVENT OF THE YEAR. Engraved expressly for Graham’s Magazine by W. E. Tucker Printed by J. M. Butler

GEN^L. RICHARD MONTGOMERY. Engraved expressly for Graham’s Magazine