THE BEATER'S SONG, OR TING-LANG'S SEARCH FOR HIS FATHER. Hail New Year! Welcome New Year! How bright the lamps in the streets appear Through the streets and seen The crowds and lights to hail the New Year! May our blessings and wealth increase! The boy went home when the three drums beat * And flung himself at his mother's feet; * Midnight. Where, hiding his face in her lap, he kept You thus bitterly sob and cry. Into my bosom pour your grief; Who but a mother can give relief? Peaceful Year! Year of peace! Soon shall the tears of my darling cease! "Mother, whenever I'm in the street, I'm jeered by every boy I meet; They say I've no father-have got no name; That you, mother, you, I so much revere, Were ? let me breathe the vile word in your ear,— But I knew, mother darling, that was untrue, For the angels are not more pure than you!" The mother had listened with drooping head, To all that her weeping son had said; When he'd finished, her head she proudly raised And lovingly into her boy's eyes gazed. "Ne'er heed, my child, what the street-boys say, Then she told to her child all her history, She told him where he 'd been sent, and how He now had been gone twelve weary years; "Mother, I'm but a boy; While you live one of pain? Ah, let me go in quest Of him you hold so dear! But wander far and near, Till I have found him, cleared his name, "Go, my son; seek your father, but quickly return; Bring him safe, and my undying gratitude earn. But your zeal, my brave darling, has made you forget That you don't know your father-you've not seen him yet." Thus saying, three proofs from her bosom she drew, "See, this is my half (the other he took) Of the mirror we broke at our parting, and look, "How many long years in my bosom they've lain, When will they with his halves be united again! Whoever these three parting tokens can pair, Is your father, my husband-we both his name bear." The half of the mirror, the 'kerchief, and comb The boy safely placed in his breast; For at dawn the next morn he'd quit his loved home, And his courage be put to the test. Why dwell on the sad parting scene which took place; 'Twas made up of hopes, doubts, and fears; He would ever remember her pale anxious face, She would pray for his safety with tears. |