LAN-TSIH 



Mrs. ELFRIDA HUDSON 



EOMANCE OF THE SECOND CENTURY B.C. 



Lan-tsih counted thirteen summers 

 When she learnt to spin the silkthread. 

 Needle-work she learnt at fourteen. 

 She played her guitar at fifteen; 

 Sixteen years old she studied 

 History and famous poems ; 

 And at seventeen she married. 



Cloudless skies of happy childhood. 



Then with lowering clouds grew heavy. 



Absent all day was her husband 



In the Office of the Prefect, 



Whom he served as secretary. 



Lone she sat in her apartment ; 



Early in the morn at cock's crow, 



She was at her loom already. 



Worked till late when darkness stopped her ; 



Three rolls in five days she finished. 



Still her husband's mother scolded, 



Said to her she worked too slowly. 



