Page:Horæ Sinicæ, Translations from the Popular Literature of the Chinese (horsinictran00morrrich, Morrison, 1812).djvu/76

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66
Translations from the Chinese.

pound weight, fastened to my shoulders. Hundreds and thousands of lashes are, by a leathern whip, inflicted upon me. Curses and abuse in a thousand forms, are poured upon me. I am driven with threatenings rapidly along, and not allowed to stand still. Through the dry ground or the deep water, I with difficulty drag the plow. With an empty belly, the tears flow from my eyes. I hope in the morning, that I shall be early released; but who does not know that I am detained till the evening? If with a hungry belly I eat the grass in the midst of the field, the whole family, great and small, insulting abuse me. I am left to any species of herb, amongst the hills, but you, my master, yourself receive the grain that is sown in the field. Of the Chen Paddy, you make rice, of the No Paddy, you make wine. You have cotton, wheat, and herbs, of a thousand different kinds. Your garden is full of vegetables. When your men and women marry, amidst all your felicity, if there be a want of money, you let me out to others. When pressed for the payment of duties, you devise no