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banks. A few might do so, some from habit and early train-
ing, some from the instinct that prompts us to catch at any
straw when we think ourselves drowning, but few from
a genuine belief that the Musical Banks could save them
from financial ruin, if they were unable to meet their en-
gagements in the other kind of currency.
In conversation with one of the Musical Bank manag-
ers I ventured to hint this as plainly as politeness would
allow. He said that it had been more or less true till late-
ly; but that now they had put fresh stained glass windows
into all the banks in the country, and repaired the buildings,
and enlarged the organs; the presidents, moreover, had tak-
en to riding in omnibuses and talking nicely to people in
the streets, and to remembering the ages of their children,
and giving them things when they were naughty, so that all
would henceforth go smoothly.
‘But haven’t you done anything to the money itself?’ said
I, timidly.
‘It is not necessary,’ he rejoined; ‘not in the least neces-
sary, I assure you.’
And yet any one could see that the money given out at
these banks was not that with which people bought their
bread, meat, and clothing. It was like it at a first glance, and
was stamped with designs that were often of great beauty;
it was not, again, a spurious coinage, made with the inten-
tion that it should be mistaken for the money in actual use;
it was more like a toy money, or the counters used for cer-
tain games at cards; for, notwithstanding the beauty of the
designs, the material on which they were stamped was as

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