sight.

When such persons approach each other, they are mutually attracted, like
two bodies charged with different kinds of electricity--an interchange
of commodities takes place, repulsion follows, and thus reenforced, they
separate to diffuse the supply of wonders collected.

By this centripetal and centrifugal process, the social atmosphere is
subjected to a continual state of agitation. _Language_ is altogether
too tame to give full effect to their meaning, and all the varieties of
_dumb show_, of _gesticulation_, _shrugs_, and wise shakes of the head,
are called into requisition, to effectually and unmistakably express
their ideas. The usages of good society are regarded by them as a great
restraint upon their besetting propensity to expatiate in phrases of
grandiloquence, and to magnify objects of trivial importance. They are
always sure to initiate topics which will afford scope for admiration;
they delight to enlarge upon the unprecedented growth of cities,
villages, and towns; upon the comparative prices of 'corner lots' at
different periods; and to calculate how rich they _might_ have been, had
they only known as much _then_ as _now_.

They experience a gratification when a rich man dies, that the wonder
will now be solved as to the amount of his property; and when a man
fails in business, that it is _now_ made clear--what has so long
perplexed them--'_how he managed to live so extravagantly_!' See them
at an agricultural fair, and they will be found examining the 'mammoth
squashes' and various products of prodigious growth--or they will
install themselves as self-appointed exhibiter of the 'Fat Baby,' to
inform the incredulous how much it weighs! See them at a conflagration,
and they wonder what was the _cause_ of the fire, and _how far_ it will
extend?

They long to travel, that they may visit 'mammoth caves' and 'Giant's
Causeways.' We talk of the 'Seven Wonders of the World,' while to them
there is a successive series for every day in the year--putting to the
blush our meagre stock of monstrosities--making 'Ossa like a wart.'
Nothing gratifies them more than the issuing from the press of an
anonymous work, that they may exert their ingenuity in endeavoring to
discover the author; and, when called on for information on the subject,
prove conclusively to every one but themselves, that they know nothing
whatever about the matter.

The ocean is to them only wonderful as the abode of 'Leviathans,' and
'Se