There is a certain portion of mankind ever on the alert to see or hear some wonderful thing; whose minds are attuned to a marvellous key, and vibrate with extreme sensitiveness to the slightest touch; whose vital fluid is the air of romance, and whose algebraic symbol is a mark of exclamation! This sentiment, existing in some persons to a greater degree than in others, is often fostered by education and association, so as to become the all-engrossing passion. Children, of course, begin to wonder as soon as their eyes are opened upon the strange scenes of their future operations. The first thing usually done to develop their dawning intellect, is to display before them such objects as are best calculated to arrest their attention, and keep them in a continual state of excitement. This course is succeeded by a supply of all sorts of _toys_, to gratify the passion of novelty. These are followed by wonderful stories, and books of every variety of absurd impossibilities;--which system of development is, it would seem, entirely based upon the presumption, that the faculty of admiration must be expanded, in order that the young idea may best learn how to _shoot_. It is therefore quite natural, that--the predisposition granted--a faculty of the mind so auspiciously nurtured under the influence of exaggeration should mature in a corresponding degree. Thus we have in our midst a class, into whose mental economy the faculty of _wonder_ is so thoroughly infused, that it has inoculated the entire system, and forms an inherent, inexplicable, and almost elementary part of it. These persons sail about in their pleasure yachts, on roving expeditions, under a pretended '_right of search_,' armed to the teeth, and boarding all sorts of crafts to obtain plunder for their favorite gratification. They are most uneasy and uncomfortable companions, having no ear for commonplace subjects of conversation, and no eye for ordinary objects of 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.