The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1848-01-20

The appearance of a Wing member Of
Congress from Mississippi is no every day
event. and the question which We have pla-
ced at the head Of this article has been
asked more than once. We arc fortunate
" provided with an answer in letter writ
ten by correspondent Of tho Providence
Journal, md published Nov. ID, lS45, an
extract from which We rcpublsh.
"ro the interrogntory, WHO'S Pat Temp
kins? the subjcc. OF the query often re-
plies himself, ON the stump, by telling his
auditors, he was born in log cabin, six-
teen By eighteen feet in size, which u, the
time Of his birth, already contained ten Or
twelve brothers and sisters, aud was situa,
ted somewhere in the woods near the line
between Tennessee and Kentucky. Al,
the ngc oftwclve, no was put on, To work
to ncighbor as farm boy, aud drove on
Gu, hocd corn, raised tobacco in summer.
cured It aud priced il in winter, ill he was
seventeen years old, when h. took to ma
king brick; thence rose 10 the trade of
bricklayer, To which he added the profess sion
ofa cnrpenicr, and by these successive
steps in mechanical arts, he became able.
by his own unassistcd skill, To rear n house
from clay pit, or from the stump, and con-
plctc il in all lis parts, and that, ton, in Il
manner that none Of his competitors cun.d
surpass. Ills PANEL doors are to this sla,
the wonder and admiration Of all the coun
try, in which they continue to swing on
their hinges.
lie never saw the inside Of n school house
or church, till after he WAS eighteen years
old. by the assistance Of IN old man in
the ncighborhood, he learned during the
winter evenings to read aud write, when Il
farm boy. Having achieved these valuable
acquisitions by the mid Of another, all his
other education has been tho trui, Of bis own
application and perseverance. Al tho NJ,
oftwenty-two, he conceived tho idea of fiji,
ting himself for the practice 81 law. lie a,
frs, procured an old copy Of Blackstone and
after his daily laLors, by nightly studies
over pitch.knot fire, in his log cabin, mas
tered tho contents Of that compendium oil
common INV, he pursued his researches in
To other elementary works. And having
thus, by great diligence, acquired the ruli-
mcnts Of his profession, he met with an
old lawyer who had quit practice, or whose
practice had quit him, with whom he made
a bargain for his scan,y library, for which
he was to pay him Sl5O in carpenter
work; md tho chief par, Of the work to hc
done in paymcn, Of these old mus,y books,
was in dressing and laying down IN oak
iioor or floors, for three dullars per square
oi ten feet.
The library puid for, Pat Tompkins drop.
ped the adze, plane and ,rowo' forever lie
IS now ono ofthc mos; prominent members
Of tho Mississippi bar, and is not yet more
than forty years cid. OF his abilities us II
statesman nnd an orator, you will, before
many yours, have evidence in tho halls Of
Congress. heard him, one day, make
two speeches ia succession, Of three hours
IN length, cach TO the samc audience, and
not movement testified any WEAKNESS on
the pnrt of single auditor, aud during
their delivery, the assembly seemed sway
cd by tho orator as reeds by the wind"