executive, but to me she seems unimpressionable
and temperamentally incapable of enthusiasm.
Her husband's quiet tastes irritate her, I think,
and she finds it worth while to play the patroness
to a group of young poets and painters of ad-
vanced ideas and mediocre ability. She has
her own fortune and lives her own life. For some
reason, she wishes to remain Mrs. James Burden.

As for Jim, no disappointments have been
severe enough to chill his naturally romantic
and ardent disposition. This disposition, though
it often made him seem very funny when he was
a boy, has been one of the strongest elements in
his success. He loves with a personal passion
the great country through which his railway
runs and branches. His faith in it and his knowl-
edge of it have played an important part in its
development. He is always able to raise capi-
tal for new enterprises in Wyoming or Mon-
tana, and has helped young men out there to
do remarkable things in mines and timber and
oil. If a young man with an idea can once get
Jim Burden's attention, can manage to accom-
pany him when he goes off into the wilds hunt-
ing for lost parks or exploring new canyons, then
the money which means action is usually forth-
coming. Jim is still able to lose himself in those
big Western dreams. Though he is over forty
now, he meets new people and new enterprises

[[xi]]

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