The possession of vast wealth entails cares and respon~
sibilities, however, as poor Marija found out. She had
taken the advice of a friend and invested her savings in
a bank on Ashland Avenue. Of course she knew nothing
about it, except that it was big and imposing -- what pos~
sible chance has a poor foreign working-girl to understand
the banking business, as it is conducted in this land of
frenzied finance? So Marija lived in continual dread
lest something should happen to her bank, and would go
out of her way mornings to make sure that it was still
there. Her principal thought was of fire, for she had
deposited her money in bills, and was afraid that if they
were burned up the bank would not give her any others.
Jurgis made fun of her for this, for he was a man and was
proud of his superior knowledge, telling her that the bank
had fire-proof vaults, and all its millions of dollars hidden
safely away in them.

However, one morning Marija took her usual detour,
and, to her horror and dismay, saw a crowd of people in
front of the bank, filling the avenue solid for half a block.
All the blood went out of her face for terror. She broke
into a run, shouting to the people to ask what was the
matter, but not stopping to hear what they answered, till
she had come to where the throng was so dense that she
could no longer advance. There was a "run on the bank,"
they told her then, but she did not know what that was,
and turned from one person to another, trying in an agony
of fear to make out what they meant. Had something
gone wrong with the bank? Nobody was sure, but they
thought so. Couldn't she get her money? There was
no telling; the people were afraid not, and they were
all trying to get it. It was too early yet to tell anything
-- the bank would not open for nearly three hours. So in
a frenzy of despair Marija began to claw her way toward
the doors of this building, through a throng of men, women,
and children, all as excited as herself. It was a scene of
wild confusion, women shrieking and wringing their hands
and fainting, and men fighting and trampling down every~
thing in their way. In the midst of the melee Marija

[[132]]

p131 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p132w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p133

v?