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The tools are still to be seen suspended to the top, and, in spite of the trick having been found out and punished, such is the love of Chinese for the marvellous, that the Pekingese believe to this day that they were left there by Lu-pan, after repairing the temple.

MENG CHENG'S JOURNEY TO THE GREAT WALL.

In tracing back time's ever flowing stream,
I will not sing of heroes, war or glory;
A simpler subject far shall form my theme,
A woman's love-Mêng Cheng's pathetic story.

At once a wife, a widow, yet a maid,

No jade could be more pure, no snow be whiter;
The lustre of her name will never fade;

Ages have passed, it shines out clearer, brighter.

Couched in rude language though the tale may be,
To braver, nobler deeds you cannot listen;
Her journey to the Wall, ten thousand li,
Will cause the breast to swell, the eye to glisten.

My efforts will not altogether fail,

Should my rough verses but succeed in wringing
A tear or two from those who hear this tale,
Perhaps a sigh for those of whom I'm singing.

In Kuating city ages long ago,*

There lived, as local chronicles still show,

A man named Mêng-lung-té, who, with his wife,
Passed many years an uneventful life,

Tranquil and happy, for no other care

Disturbed their peace, save that they had no heir;
Had they a child on whom their love to pour,

Then were they blessed, they craved for nothing

more.

At length their fondest hopes were gratified,
The dame, with rising glow of conscious pride,
Announced herself, thanks to kind destiny,
The way all married ladies wish to be;
Ere long a little stranger blessed their sight,
Though but a girl, they hailed it with delight.
This child, e'en as the tendrils of the vine

Help to support the props round which they twine,
Would to their green old age new vigour bring,
And, by her love, support as well as cling.

* Upwards of two thousand years ago.

With joy, then, o'er this little pledge they hung,
And at the "full moon named the child Meng

Cheng;*

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Nor was it ever changed, the name they gave,
She bore in life, and carried to her grave.

Years passed, the little Mêng Cheng grew apace,
All hearts delighting by her childish grace,
Clever beyond her years, she passed her hours
In study, needlework, embroidering flowers.
In all accomplishments the girl excelled,
Charming her parents, who with pride beheld
Her industry, her kind and winning ways.
The neighbours too spoke loudly in her praise;
So beautiful, so skilful, yet so young,
Who was the equal of the fair Mêng Chêng!
The time rolled on, the girl was now sixteen.
In all her life her thoughts had ever been
How by her fond devotion day by day,
She could her parents' kindness best repay.
Like to a rosebud 'neath a genial sun,

Her budding charms unfolded one by one,

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* The first name a child receives is called its "Milk name," and is equivalent to our Christian name.' Children can be named on any day after their birth, from the 3rd to the 30th or "full moon or "complete month.” The 3rd and 30th days after the birth of a child are the favourite days for the ceremony of giving it its "Milk name."

Each day developing some lovelier grace,
Rounding her form, and dimpling her fair face,
The young girl blossomed into maidenhood,
Fair to the eyes, yet not more fair than good.

Her birthday dawned: the happy parents blessed
Their blushing daughter, whom they thus ad-
dressed :-

"You're now sixteen, as each revolving year
Rolls on, still sweet sixteen' may you appear;
May your young life be one continual spring,
And every added year new pleasures bring.
But yet my child-'tis written so by fate—
The time will come when we must separate;
We both are old, and time steals slowly on,
Our care then is for you when we are gone.
You will be rich, all that we have is yours;
But 'tis not wealth that always best insures
Content and happiness. We must provide
A fitting husband for so fair a bride;

Invite a son-in-law to assume our name,"

*

This, for your sake, must be our highest aim;

A person having no male children, and not wishing his family name to become extinct, can, if he choose, invite a person to marry his daughter, which he does through the medium of the go-between. On marriage, the bridegroom becomes a member of his father-in-law's family; the first son assumes his mother's maiden name, and inherits the family property, his descendants doing the same in perpetuity; the remainder of the bridegroom's children retain his name.

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