He was in such poor health that he was not able to remain there, but on
his doctor's advice he went with his wife and one daughter to Nassau.
While sick there, he was still at work on improvements for his
ship-railway. He was wont to say to his intimate friends, "I shall not
die until I accomplish this work, and see with my own eyes great ships
pass from ocean to ocean over the land." But in Nassau it was soon
known that he was dying; and still he said, "I cannot die; I have not
finished my work."
He died March 8, 1887, not quite sixty-seven years of age. No one has
finished his work.
* * * * *
In any career there are three main elements of success: talent,
education, work. Eads's life, like that of so many other self-made men,
seems to show us that education is less important than the other two.
But while it is true that he had not the formal education of an
engineer, he had a certain very broad training gained in experience,
and had read hard. Education, after all, is nothing but a summary
method of teaching the lessons of life; therefore, while less
insistent, it is often swifter than practical experience. And there is
no doubt that a man like Eads would be the first to deplore a young
man's failing to appreciate its value. When he himself was young, he
never supposed that he was a genius; but if he had thought this, he
would have striven to be the best-read and the best-equipped of
geniuses; believing that though he might be mistaken about his talent
he could make sure of his culture.
The Riverside Press
_Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.._
_Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._