Two individuals of African lineage, hailing from the upper districts of the State, who had never seen an "ingine," but had long promised themselves that felicity, stood at the depot awaiting with some impatience the arrival of the evening train. Standing hand in hand, and conversing excitedly on the topic uppermost in their minds, their _outre_ appearance, coupled with the exceeding verdancy of some of their observations, became the subject of attention, and then of amused remark from the bystanders. This they were unable to appreciate for various reasons, and soon the appearance of the winged monster around a neighboring curve, with appalling and most unpreconceived suddenness, took away their breaths and rocked their bodies with shivers of dread. Their first impulse was to dismiss their corner of the meeting and pass to the rear; but, looking around upon the broadly smiling crowd, they were reassured for the moment, and each grasping the other's horny palm with a grip which evinced their respective determinations not to be left, whatever might happen, they stood hearkening to the thunderous echoes, and noting with special wonder the cow-catching and other aggressive features of the steadily approaching monster. It had now stolen by slow degrees to within twenty feet of the spot which they occupied, and the whistle breaking into a peculiarly loud accompaniment to the huff--huff--huff of the bellowing engine, the expression, "Dar, she's busted!" startled even the man of iron at the throttle-valve, and prefacing the exertion with a ten-feet leap into the air, the panic-stricken darkies broke across the landscape with a yearning desire for tall timber that was eloquently depicted on every motion of the supple limbs, and in each sway of the backward leant and pendulous cerebellums. The cheers of the crowd, and a few extra flourishes on the big horn, served to augment their weight of conviction, and buckling to their labor with saw-mill regularity of stroke, and a settled determination not to be overtaken by slower time, they soon blended with the verge of the horizon, and took that leap into space which rescues them from all further connection with this narrative. So thin is the partition wall that separates the real from the ideal with these beings, that they continually advertise themselves for a scare, and should they by any accident be deprived of their weekly supply of the element, loss of appetite and other serious bodily symptoms would undoubtedly ensue. We have volunteered these remarks and illustrations, pertaining to the philosophy of this question, with a view of introducing the following occurrence: