©Ee. i 
364 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
among the tresses of her fair hair floating to her 
feet was the face I knew, with a bound at my 
tightened heart I recognized her, and my lips 
grew white, and my eye gleamed with a joy fierce 
as madness. 
“ Kneel before the king,” said the merchant 
gravely. 
Hut she fixed her eyes on mine, and standing 
up defiant with her hands folded beneath her 
hair, she bowed only, smiling with sad scorn at 
man's behest. 
“ I’ardon her,” said the merchant, “she Is an 
untaught maiden." 
“ Whence comes she?” I asked with trembling 
lips. 
“ 1 know not, 0 king, Tn tho midst of the great 
storm we found her at the edge of the wilderness, 
weeping beneath a rock." 
“And she hath told thee of what country she 
is?” 
“ Wo understand not her language ; but thou, 
O king, art learned as the stars; wilt thou not. try 
some strange tongue In her ears ?” 
1 spoke to her in many tongues, hut she con- 
tl sued mute till her eyes fell upon the ring I wore, 
then suddenly, with a bitter cry, she clasped her 
hands above her head and sank down and wept, 
biding her face In her hair. 
How beautiful she looked thus I How I rejoiced 
In her tears 1 showing she was one of earth now— 
a veritable woman, ready to weep with the weak¬ 
est,—ready to tremhle at, a word. 
With ray eyes fastened on her, 1 asked her price 
of the merchant; he named a sum that would 
have bought a province, but l bade my treasurer 
count the money to ulm, and with a deep obei¬ 
sance he left me, • 
Then, rising from my throne, r went towards 
her, and set ting uslde the shining tresses of her 
hair, 1 gazed upon her face. Swift blushes rose 
upon her check, chasing each other Into paleness; 
then her Up trembled, and ber eyes filled again 
with tears—indignant tears, like those I had seen 
upon her face when it shone upon me from the 
stars, when she was worlds away—unattainable, 
not a woman and a slave as she was now. There 
are no words to tcU my triumph and my Joy. 
" .Mine from across distant stars," I whispered. 
“Say art, thou content to love me, maiden?” 
I took her by the slender wrist, and she, light¬ 
ened and quivering like the aspen, knelt suddenly 
and pressed her Ups upon my baud. Then bend¬ 
ing her forehead to the ground, she remained at, 
my feet silent. 
I stooped to raise her, to clasp her In my arms, 
but a voice at the door drew me back. 
It was tho Eastern sage. * 
“.1 ust-lce, () king 1” he cried. “A certain mer¬ 
chant hath found ray slave In the wilderness, and 
he hath sold her to thee unrighteously. Lo! sho 
kneeleth before thee now.” 
Then drawing near to me he whispered, “ Iie- 
mernber Hi loo oath: Thinkest thou that such a 
man as I knew not tho hour and the placo in 
which to seek her? It. Is well lhat I am come.” 
I crossed my eyes with my hands that I might 
not see her go, and he led the maiden away.— 
[Conclusion next week. 
—♦♦♦— 
COPPER. 
BY W. 11. WALENN. 
Copper is distinguished from all the other me¬ 
tals (except the rare metal called “titanium,”) by 
Its red color; bismuth also has a slight red tint, 
but it is never likely lo be confounded with cop¬ 
per on that account, for (t Is nearly white. 
The weight of a metal In proport ion to Its vol¬ 
ume, or hulk, Is a very Important Item amongst 
Its peculiarities. This relative weight, Is called 
its “specific gravity,” and Is always expressed In 
proportion to the weight of exactly the same bulk 
of pure water; 
The discovery of the law of loss of weight, equal 
to that of the bulk of water displaced, by an im¬ 
mersed body, was made by the Syracusan phllos- 
pher Arehlmodes, about 300 years before Christ, 
who, being Intent upon finding the proportion of 
silver In the so-called “ golden"' crown of Utero, 
King of .Syracuse, and entering a bath that was 
full of water, observed that a quantity of water 
flowed ovor; this quantity he rightly estimated 
as the bulk or Uls own body, and thence i,nought 
of the application of the principle to finding tho 
proportion at silver that was alloyed with the gold 
In the crown. So delighted was he with the dis¬ 
covery, that ho Jumped out of the water and ran 
through the streets, naked as he was, crying out, 
“Eureka/ Eureka /” (l have found itf 1 have 
round It 1) 
To carry out his Iden, he obtained a mass of 
gold and another of silver, each equal In weight 
to the crown, and observed the quantities of water 
displaced by each. Alloys are very seldom of tho 
exact specific gravity relative to that of their com¬ 
ponent metals In proportion to the amount of 
cacn metal existing In the alloy; but, doubtless, 
some near approach to the relative weights of sil¬ 
ver and gold In the crown was made by Archim¬ 
edes. when he compared the specific gravities of 
the gold and sliver masses t hus obtained with the 
specific gravity of the crown, obtained by means 
of a like immersion. If tills plan could have given 
truly the relative proportions o! the gold and sil¬ 
ver, It would have been remarkable on account 
of its being totally Independent of the abstraction 
of metal, however small, from the crown to be 
tested. 
Pure copper Is less easily melted than silver 
and more easily than gold; Its point of fusion Is 
said to be 1996“ Fahrenheit. It is melted lu a 
“crucible”—a vessel made of some substance, 
such as fire-clay, which stands the requslte heat 
—by the aid of a material called a flux. 
The history attached to this metal Is Interesting 
£ _ 
from Its being one of the oldest known metals. It 
was discovered before Iron and. In the time of the 
Pharaohs, Nubia and Ethiopia were Its chief 
sources. The discovery of brass—an alloy of cop¬ 
per and zinc—was clearly subsequent to that of 
copper and before that of zinc, an ore that con¬ 
tained zinc being formerly used In the smelting 
of the copper; brass was, most probably, not 
known more than a few hundred years before the 
Christian era; zinc was known to be a separate 
metal In tho sixteenth century. 
The probability follows that when “ brass” Is 
ment ioned In Holy Wrl\ tho metal copper is real¬ 
ly meant. The earliest mention of " brass” (or 
copper), according to the cbronologlsts, refers to 
about 3,800 years before the birth Of our Saviour, 
and occurs in the twenty-second verse of tho 
fourth chapter of Genesis, In which Tubal Cain 
Is said to be “ an Inst ructor of every artificer in 
brass and Iron.” 
in relation to the Latin name for the metal— 
the name by which It la known In chemistry, Cu¬ 
prum—\t, is said to he derived from the name of 
an Island in the Mediterranean sea called Cy¬ 
prus, where the metal was found In great abun¬ 
dance and purity In the time of Pliny— A. D. 
100 . The ancients—the Egyptians, the Hindoos, 
Greeks, and Arabians—had a great fancy for es¬ 
tablishing relationships, or harmonies, between 
the various parts of the created universe; this 
they carried to such au extent, that various kinds 
of men and women, planets and other astronomi¬ 
cal realities and non-realities, animals, plants, 
minerals, places, things, and though last, not 
least—either in the estimation of tho ancients 
themselves, or In the Intorost we take In tho sub¬ 
ject.—metals. 
According to this harmonic and pleosant—be¬ 
cause highly amicable—arrangement, copper (or 
cuprum) was said to be Intimately related to tho 
planet Venus. Home discussion has arisen be¬ 
tween philosophical historians as to whether the 
metals then known were named first and the 
planets from them, or whether the planets were 
named first, and then the metals; we are strong¬ 
ly Inclined to believe that the metals took their 
mythological names irom the planets, for the 
planets are visible to many people many times In 
tho year, merely for the trouble of looking for; 
but tho metals are, for the most part, found only 
by patient. Industry and hard physical labor, la 
separating the solid crust of the earth. 
it is a singular fact that. In the harmonic 
arrangement above described, the Island of Cy¬ 
prus, where copper was discovered, or rediscov¬ 
ered by the Greeks, was placed under the guar¬ 
dianship of the goddess Venus, named after tho 
planet. Venus by a star-worshipping community, 
and that those who give the stars a language, 
placo Cyprus, as well as tho metal copper, under 
the Influence or tho planet Venus. Those who 
are curious In the matter may trace other singu¬ 
lar coincidences; or, lo say the least of It, related 
peculiarities. The planet Venus Is said, by the 
above ancient people, to preside over everything 
relating to beauty of form or color, ovor the 
polite arts and all things, such as music, paint¬ 
ing, and poetry, that administer to the ouf.ward 
luxury and enjoyment of llCo ; It la also certain 
that either copper or Its alloyB make a very strong 
appearance tn the adjuncts to a refined life; H 
furnishes roods, and sometimes strings lo musical 
instruments, Its chemical combinations with 
other substances form magnificent paints of a 
bluish or greenish tint, and the metal itself ren¬ 
ders further assistance to the artist tn the shape 
of copper plates for printing from. Bronze 
statues and statuettes enable us to realize the 
beauty or form In all Its wondrous details, and 
the colors displayed by the metal Itself, and by 
its chemical combinations, are of a varied and 
vivid kind. The peculiar color which the planet 
Venus was said to favor most was a glistening or 
brilliant tint of blue or purple, and It Is remark¬ 
able that the great majority of the colors or the 
chemicals formed from copper are of a bluish 
tint; indeed, the most beautiful purple that 
chemistry affords—unable to he fixed, we regret 
to say—produced when ammonia Is added to tho 
solution of a salt of copper, la one of tho surest 
means of telling the presence of copper In a solu¬ 
tion. 
To proceed with the history of the metal. The 
Grecians aud Romans used copper and Its alloys 
with till for weapons and for tlielr coinage. 
.Since Mien, Its non-llablllty to rust, Its mallea¬ 
bility, and Its other properties have brought It 
into use for a great number of purposes. 
The metal copper, doubtless—In common with 
Its nobler companions, gold and silver—owes Its 
ancient birth to the fact or Its being sometimes 
round In the metallic form, or “ native " in tho 
earth; Iron, zinc, and the more recently dis¬ 
covered metals not being found in the pure state, 
but, requiring some chemical knowledge to evolve 
them Horn their ores. Ha mineralogy is, how¬ 
ever, exceedingly interesting; for in form, color 
and beauty (with few exceptions), its ores all 
bear out Its Venus-like attributes. Native copper 
occurs in veins, also cryst allized in the form of 
“ cubes," or dice, anil • • aer forms. The only red 
copper ore Is the “dlu-oxhfc " copper, which is 
found in beautiful ruby-red cut. -s. Black oxide 
of copper Is sometimes met. with. Copper pyrites 
contain sulphur and Iron as well as copper, and 
a re of a deep brass-yellow color. The green car¬ 
bonate of copper (malachite) Is the most abund¬ 
ant as well as one of the most beautiful of all the 
copper ores. This ore is cblotly found in Russia, 
and Is sometimes ground up to form a green pig¬ 
ment. Euchorlte, ernlte, copper mica, condur- 
rlte, pseudo-malaohlto, thrombollte, Ubethemte, 
and atacamlte are all copper ores, and all of a 
green tint, Sulphate of copper, azurlto and 
aphameslte are blue in color. 
Just. as we like to know the character of a man, 
or of a hoy. and, It possible, the kind of company 
he keeps, before being Intimate with him, so the 
previous description will go to unfold the char¬ 
acter and natural tendencies of our first metal 
that Wo have taken for examination and tempo¬ 
rary companionship. Wo have found that, he Is 
of ancient lineage, and that by himself, as well 
as In company with less venerable metals, ho has 
done much service to mankind, and continues to 
be a useful and ornamental member of society. 
He is of so friendly a nature that he forms 
acquaintance with many other substances be¬ 
sides those already montloued. A very energetic 
class of bodies, called acids, are exceedingly 
eager to detain him when they get hold of him in 
the right mood. Ouc, nitric acid, detains him 
under all circumstances; the others require the 
spur of warmth, or of an electric shock, to persu¬ 
ade them to establish their power over our 
metallic friend, Mr. Cuprum Copper. 
-♦»» - - 
ABOUT DANCING, 
BT OKOROE 8PARKYS. 
No two people regard dancing tn the same way; 
and If you happen to be rather fond of It, or quite 
the revorse, you have no refuge or appeal from 
the sarcasm or the argument of your opponent. 
At what point of Intellectual culture does a man 
begin to think dancing absurd ? At what point 
or ago or corpulency Is It proper that a woman 
should desist from dancing ? Should one bo 
ashamed, to confess a tend ness for dancing ? 
I take It that dancing, lo begin with, Is a natur¬ 
al expression of joy, aud ought to bo satisfactory 
to the person who thus manifests his delight, 1 
need not go back to tho times of Greece and 
Rome—Indeed, I will veuturo to skip history from 
I,he creation of man up till last Tuesday after¬ 
noon. I was then crossing Broadway. There 
appeared on the pavement a large, rough, 
raw-boned, ruddy-vlsaged navvy, who carried 
his moleskin Jacket, In his hand. Now, this navvy 
was so drunk as to be wholly oblivious of the per¬ 
sons and things around him. There was nothing 
visible on his race but an Intense, rubicund hap¬ 
piness, which manifested itself I n a broad and 
rather vaonous smile. But to give further ex¬ 
pression to hla strong Inner delight, the navvy 
began to danco—no mad Jig or boisterous reel, 
but a measured and stately performance, in 
which he alternately turned out each foot and 
admiringly surveyed his leg as It described slow 
semt-elrcles In the air. lie extended his mole¬ 
skin Jacket by tho arms.ua lr It. were some grace¬ 
ful and gracious partner; and, with appropriate 
ana beautiful gestures ne slowly waltzed round 
and round, seeing nothing, and caring for noth¬ 
ing but the motion of his arms and legs. The 
performance was picturesque arid suggestive. It. 
Mcemedto me, lu reading George Eliot’s “Spanish 
Gipsy,” that the mind of the authoress was too 
analytic and self-conscious to permit her to con¬ 
vey a full and perfect sense or hbanaon m the 
Impassioned dancing of Fedalrna. l could not 
help hoping that Fcdalma did not think liersolf 
absurd. But here was tho real ecstaoy—t,ho 
thorough delight in dancing per se, with no con- 
corn ror its affect, with no thought or tho specta¬ 
tors. The man was thoroughly happy ; and ho 
danoed; “ but as the 1 In not sings." 
Whether the young men of our day like dancing 
or no, they contrive to dance as It they detested 
It. A good many of them, when the hostess In¬ 
sists upon introducing them to a partner, rise 
with a piteous smile of resignation, go through 
tha ceremony or introduction languidly, and lake 
up a position upon the floor with some profoundly 
witty remark, addressed to their companion, 
about their not being able to remember tho fig¬ 
ures. in quadrille dancing, especially, motion 
has been cut down to Its severest forms. 
An awkward and stiff walk is the prescribed 
method of “getting through” a quadrille; the 
rough jolting of the last figure Is entered Into 
with a shrug or protest, and the performance 
closes with a sigh of relief. / ll the brisk circle 
dances, such as the Polka, Mazurka, Schottlsche, 
and the like, have for a long time been banished, 
leaving the walk to monopolize rapid movement. 
By observing a good many Instances, I have ar¬ 
rived at ft theory of the es< lmatlon In which danc¬ 
ing Is held by people who dance. [ believe, so 
far as young men are concerned, that they have 
a keen pleasure In dancing with a girl they like; 
and that they must submit to the hypocrisy of 
dancing with the other girls In the room, so that 
they may occasionally dance with this one. In 
uiy time, I have noticed more than one gentle¬ 
man, after dancing with a particular partner, 
sneak out or the drawing-room and make his way 
to the smoking-room. Perhaps three-quarters of 
an hour afterwards ho returns, and quietly begs 
tor another danco from the same charming young 
creature. 
People don’t observe that he dances exclus! vely 
with her; though she, If she have some private 
understanding « ith mm, may. This conduct is 
obviously mean; for, whereas the girl has been 
doing her duty, and dancing with all and sundry, 
this defaulter has only studied hts own pleasure. 
Of course, lots of men dunce for other reasons 
than the delight of danolug. They wish to pay a 
compliment, perhaps, by tbe mere asking; or 
they want a few moments’ hurried talk In the 
pauses of a quadrille. But, so far a3 tho mere 
personal pleasure of dancing goes, I doubt wheth¬ 
er there Is ever more than one girl In a room with 
whom a man, If he had only to study his own 
wishes, would dance, lie cannot always he danc¬ 
ing with her, however, so he must dance with 
others, and wait for his turn. If he Is very fond 
of her, and Inclined to jealousy, the chances are 
that he will receive more pain In watching her 
dance five dances with other people than pleas¬ 
ure In dancing the sixth with her himself. 
But with the young gentlewomen of our day the 
case Is very dlfilerent. Girls like the motion and 
swing or dancing. Very often waltzing is the only 
form of vigorous exercise they can get; and they 
enjoy It as an Infant enjoys kicking or squealing, 
or a boy of ten enjoys Jumping, climbing, tum¬ 
bling, and rolling. To see a IoL of young girls be¬ 
ing whirled round a big room, with bright light 
on their happy faces, and the Intoxication of the 
music anil the motion In their eyes, Is a very 
pretty sight; and can only provoke envious or un¬ 
holy notions tn the heart of a gentleman whom 
Providence has prevented, by some malformation, 
from enjoying himself in a similar fashion. As 
for Alfred do Musset, I will never believe that, In 
Imitating the tone of Byron’s Waltz In his A la 
mt-rureme, he meant anything more than to 
gratiry some passing lit or spleen, probably pro¬ 
voked by seeing some young Mend of his dancing 
with somebody else. You know ho had no club 
foot. 
Then comes the other consideration—which Is, 
perhaps, the prevailing reason why many middle- 
aged ladles dan to— that, only In dancing area 
lady’s dress and figure properly seen. What Is 
the use of a train When one must sit cramped up 
ouuBofa? What Is the use of having a waist, 
if It Is to be hidden by the arms of the dress? 
Whereas, In walking through a quadrille, a lady 
who can manage her train properly shows to the 
greatest advantage. The art of managing a 
train without, apparent effort, should be ranked 
among a woman’s chief graces; and I hereby de¬ 
clare that If tho Empress of Austria herself were 
to-morrow morning to—but this Is Idling. It, Is a 
thousand pities that a Spanish “ waltz-country- 
daucc called, 1 think, the Guaraohu—is never 
danced now In private houses. More than any 
other dance X know of It had the effect, of show¬ 
ing off pretty figures. Tho alow aud stately 
movements or tho dance (It ought, to he danced 
very slowly), with Its picturesque and novel com¬ 
binations. were eminently calculated to display 
shape. Aa a general rule, tho “ ladles’chain” of 
quadrilles is also good in exhibiting figure and 
dress; but. there, unless the train Is well man¬ 
aged, difficulties are UkPly to occur. The Var- 
sovlenne, in spite of its absurd pauses, used to bo 
well calculated for showing off girls of slender 
figure. 'I lie character of the dance, Indeed, al¬ 
most compels one lo associate It with a particu¬ 
lar kind of woman tall, dark, slender, wit h flash¬ 
ing eye and long dark eyelashes. Fancy seeing 
tho varsovlenne danced hy a company of hand¬ 
some Viennese women, to the music nr one of the 
admirably-trained bancs that play In the Prater ! 
But then such women should have Hungarian 
hussars toi partners ; aud we cannot all be Hun¬ 
garian hussars. 
May I add a word about stage-dancing ? It, has 
always been a wonder and a puzzle to mo how 
people could vas:ly iidmlr ; the “ poetry of mo¬ 
tion” In a girl’s standing on her right toe and be¬ 
ing twirled round by her companion. And I think 
that managers mistake the taste or the public 
In laboring after tho greatest curtailment of skirt 
possible. It is not given to every ballet-gbl to 
look well In tights; and I am oertatn that a skill¬ 
fully-dressed and plcturesqe ballot would always 
be better than any exhibition of more or less 
scraggy young women, with no particular shape 
about their limbs. 
BRIC-A-BRAC. 
BY C. fl. K. K. 
Parrots always hold their food with the left 
foot. Can anybody tell why ? 
Senator Morton inherited his disease. His 
father and grandfather were stricken down with 
It, and yet they lived for years afterward. Two 
aunts and an uncle were similarly affected, but 
they died in old ago. An elder sister Is now lying 
In the same helpless condition. Hla mother was 
a strong, healthy woman, and to her ho owed his 
Immense body, his broad shoulders, and ills Web- 
sterlan brow. _ 
Bob Inokrsou, may have Tom Paine on the 
brain, but there is horse-sense in what he says of 
the cause of hard times: “ There Is not a scar¬ 
city of money, but there Is a scarcity of business. 
A ml Ibis scarcity springs from a lack of confidence 
in one another. Ho many presidents of savings 
banks run off with tho funds, so many railroads 
and Insurance companies are In the hands of re¬ 
ceivers, there Is so much bankruptcy on every 
hand, that all capital Is held In the uervous 
clutch of tear.” _ 
Disraki j says there Is no such thing as a con¬ 
verted Jew. Israelites who embrace Christianity 
are cr/mplete Jews. “ Converted Jews,” he says, 
“ gives the impression as tr the Jew, in accepting 
Jesus as his Havlour, embraces the religion of the 
Gentiles, forsakes the faith of his ancestors, and 
becomes, so to speak, a Gentile, it is not so. A 
Jew In becoming a Christian ts simply a complete 
Jew. Hitherto he has believed tho first; now be 
accepts also the second part of the sacred volume. 
Hitherto, he was a Jew looking for the first ad¬ 
vent or the Messiah ; now ho acknowledges that 
his expectation has boon fulfilled. Thu whole 
Christian Church rests on that Jewish root of the 
thousands or Jews that were converted on the day 
of Pentecost, and the Gentiles were the proselytes, 
corning rrom neathenlsm to the faith of the God 
of Israel, but the Jew who believes In Jesus as 
tho Messiah, simply Joins himself to those thou¬ 
sands of Israelites who recognise the claims or 
Jesus as the Christ of God promised to his fathers, 
and expected by them as the glory of the nation. 
