Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-17
CAPT. JAMES Il. EADS.
a Pen Picture of the DIsting 0ish ed
Engineer.
Washington Repnblican


The colonies, judges, governors and SIGH
aside, there are real mrn OF action,
factors and pro5tors in public affairs, to be
seen hourly IN any oil them, whose names are
as familiar as household words. and whose
achievements and ambitions are the constant
theme OF public discussion. For instance.
here comes an egg-shape faced man,
walking rapidly into Wizards whose name
and fame have reached the four cor
ners OF the scientific world, who has been
laughed at and jeered at, and who still en-
joys that privilege because OF his stupendous
schemes in engineering; but with ali that a
man who has never failed in aoy of his pub
lie undertakings up to this date. ! say he is
egg-shaped as regards his face, for imagine
that with the accessories of a hens egg large
enough to carry a seven and three uarter
silk hat, some white hair for beard around
the chin, some more white hair to cover the
Uranium back OF n.a bold forehead;
something to make a prominent nose of;
ditto for thin, decisive and compressed
lips; also ditto for gray eyebrows, and es-
pecially something to fix up small, twink
ling, deep-set, rather foxy eyes with, could
manufacture very fair counterfeit likeness
of Captain James b. Eads. And there is
nothing odious in this comparison. for an
egg, you know, is proverbially full of meat.
Spare-buiit, medium. sized, quick and ner-
vous in his everp motion, the captain seems
to take in at glance all that is to be seen as
he hurries to the office and asks the gentle
manly and urbane" thingumbob with dia-
mond studs for mail, kilograms, etc, and then
bolts Tor the elevator. If you were to follow
him up the diff" 10 his room, you would see
another and contradictory phase of his
character. No sooner does he reach that
locality than he diyests himself Of his coat,
stretches himself at full length upon the bed,
covers himself with blanket, like unto
lazy instead OF 4 nervous and active person,
ami rests; rests, il it is only for five mimi.
ties. The utter repose to his physical system
thus obtained keeps the man up, and sus-
tains him possibly in the constant mental
strain which he imposes upon himself
by his habit of personally supervis-
ing his own affairs. In New York. St.
Louie, the City of Mexico, or away down
in Tahuanterec, he rests this way between
times, taking little cat-naps, so to write it,
and manages some how or another never to
be the worse for wear, notwithstanding he is
wearing himself out all the while. And
these rests are frequently Interrupted by Wis
itors, whom he receives as freely as though
he had nothing else 10 do, but for whom he
seldom rises from his couch, save 10 explain
the peculiar typographical features espe-
cially the natural depressions of noun
tain ranges and gorges, along the
route Of his projected ship railway. He isa
man Of very few and sententious words in
ordinary conversation and is given to talking
shop"-i.e ship railway or Mississippi jetties.
But what he does say in this line is always
interesting, and gives evidence that he has
studied the subject-mat:er so closely as to be
able 10 express his thoughts pointedly and
convincingly without useless ambigu-
ity. Rather bitter and merciless he
is in exposing the weak points of
his rivals, and he is further given
to quosi threats TO appeal to foreign aid in
behalf OF his Tehauntepec proposition unless
it Is accepted and acted upon by his own
country and government. But, however this
may lie, no reasonable man can talk with
him ten minutes on this subject without sub
hitting to the conviction that Captain Esds
means what he says when he claims The Te-
hauntepec ship-railway is feasible thing.