GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE. Vol. XLI. December, 1852. No. 6. Table of Contents Pale Concluding Winter A History of the Art of Wood-Engraving Rivers Were I But With Thee Sonnet.--Iron. Nineveh, and Assyrian Art Fragment of a Poem Monde Hedelquiver Wellington Sonnet.--Homer. Grace Bartlett Sonnet Ups and Downs Father Bromley’s Tale Hours in August Annie The Useful Arts in Other Nations and Times Blind Sight-Seeing The Lucky Penny The Topmost City of the Earth Better Days Review of New Books Sips of Punch Transcriber’s Notes can be found at the end of this eBook. [Illustration: PAINTED BY F. ROCHARD ENG’D BY EZEKIEL TEEL =THE FAIREST FLOWER.= Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine] * * * * * [Illustration: =MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS ON HER WAY TO EXECUTION.=] * * * * * [Illustration: =THE INUNDATION.=] GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE. * * * * * Vol. XLI. PHILADELPHIA, December, 1852. No. 6. * * * * * [Illustration] =“PALE CONCLUDING WINTER.”= With howling fury Winter makes his bound Upon us, freezing Nature at a look. He dashes out the sweet and dreamy hues Of Indian Summer, so that where the eye The golden softness and the purple haze Beheld at noon, at sunset sees the mist Darken around the landscape, and the ear, Nestling upon its pillow, hears the sleet Ticking against the casement, whilst within The silvery cracking of the kindling coal Keeps merry chime. The morning rises up, And lo! the dazzling picture! Every tree Seems carved from steel, the silent hills are helm’d, And the broad fields have breastplates. Over all The sunshine flashes in a keen white blaze Of splendor, searing eyesight. Go abroad! The branches yield crisp cracklings, now and then Sending a shower of rattling diamonds down On the mailed earth, as freshens the light wind. The hemlock is a stooping bower of ice, And the oak seems as though a fairy’s wand Had, the past night, transformed its skeleton frame To a rich structure, trembling o’er with tints Of rainbow beauty. . . . . . . A. B. Street. * * * * *