- holder, deplores this apparent lack of public interest, and
remarks that it is "indeed melancholy to see what little heed people paid to the most precious of all institutions." Her guest observes,—[1]
"I could say nothing in reply, but I have ever been of opinion
that the greater part of mankind do approximately know
where they get that which does them good."
The Musical Bankers not only protest too much as to
the ascendancy of their institution, but consistently depreciate
the other:[2]
"Even those who to my certain knowledge kept only just
enough money at the Musical Banks to swear by, would call the
other banks (where their securities really lay) cold, deadening,
paralyzing, and the like."
As to the cashiers and managers,—[3]
"Few people would speak quite openly and freely before them,
which struck me as a very bad sign. * * * The less thoughtful
of them did not seem particularly unhappy, but many were
plainly sick at heart, though perhaps they hardly knew it, and
would not have owned to being so. Some few were opponents
of the whole system; but these were liable to be dismissed from
their employment at any moment, and this rendered them very
careful, for a man who had once been a cashier at a Musical
Bank was out of the field for other employment, and was gen-*
- ↑ Erewhon 151.
- ↑ Ibid., 155.
- ↑ Ibid., 157. Cf. Kingsley's statement that the working men distrust the clergy. In The Way of All Flesh, Butler observes, "A clergyman, again, can hardly ever allow himself to look facts fairly in the face." 103. Cf. also his Note Books, "In a way the preachers believe what they preach, but it is as men who have taken a bad ten pound note and refuse to look at the evidence that makes for its badness, though, if the note were not theirs, they would see at a glance that it was not a good one." 190.
