New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-02-14
sle,r Orlea,s 8epublifaa.
rFIClAl JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
"NIississippl State Cnses.''

State Cases." the first containing
biography of Chief Justice Sharkey, and the
second sketch of the life and genus of
that famous and distinguished orator, S. S.
Prentiss. We copy the following from adj
vanced sheets:
SEARGEST SMITH PRENTIsS.
Mr.. Prentiss, whose portrait adorns this
volume, was born at Portland, Maine, Sep
tember 80, 1903, and died at Natchez, Mis-
sissippi, July l, 1850.
His father, William Prentiss. and his
mother. whose maiden name was Mary
Lewis. were both descended from Pilgrim
stock. Their son, of whom we speak. from
the effects of violent fever in his infancy,
became an ifcurable cripple, "a circumstance
which induced in the minds Of his parents
and family a special solicitude in his behalf.
His education was commenced at Gorham
Academy in his native State under the tutor
age of Rev. Reuben Mason, a ripe scholar
and most exemplary gentleman. At the
age of fifteen years he entered BUwdoin
College, where he graduated and com
menced the study Of law. And though,
throughout his boyhood he had been deli
cate as girl, and rendered apparently still
more SO by the intirmity We have named,
he early ripened into a robust and lion
chested man, than whom the rugged hem
locks of his native shores were scarcely
more hardy.
His parents being in comparatively mod
crate circumstances, and he of ambitious
and self reliant character, at the age of
nineteen years he left the endeaTments of
home and turned his face toward the South
west, resolved to seek fortune and fame
among this generous and warIn-hearted
people.
In 1897 he arrived at Natchez, and was
soon afterward employed as IA private
teacher in the family of the Hon. Judge
Shields, then recently deceased. In this
position he had the advantages of refined
and Christian society, and the use OF an eX-
cellent law and miscellaneous library. To
these circumstances of his situation at this
period of his life he always attributed
much of his success in after years, and he
ever alluded to the noble woman who was
thus his early benefactress in terms of
warmest esteem and gratitude.
In the winter of 1889 he abandoned
the life of q schOolmaster, entered theH law
law office of the celebrated Robert j.
Walker at NatcheZ, and devoted all his
energies to the study of law. In the June
following. talone, on horseback, he made
his way across the country about one hun
bred miles to Monticello. where the SUI
preme Court of the State was then in SEES
sion, and there applied for and obtained
an-examination as 10 his qualifications and
a license to practice law. Returning to
Natchez. he was taken into partnership III
practice with General Felix Huston, at
that time one Of the most distinguished
lawyers of the State And it was then
Immediately discovered that the few years
he had devoted to legal study had been
years of noble and splendid achievement.
Iwenty-One years afterward, when the
grave had Just closed over his hOnOred re-
mains, his friend and kindred spirit, 10
seph j. Brennan, himself lofty and daZ
zling genius, alluding to the advent of
Young Prentiss as an advocate, said: "a
weak and debilitated boy, with gentle lisp,
and supported by a sustaining cane, was
soon seen stealing away the technical
hearts of stern judges, or weaving seduc-
tive tales in the honest ears of sworn jury
men. Resistless as the penetrating breeze,
his Juvenile eloquence searched every ave
nue. of thought and feeling. The classic
page and the varied mass of modern liter
ature were conveniently stored away in
the massive cavernsOf his broad and fer
tile intellect. A close train of didactic
reasoning on the NEST abstruse legal topics
was lit up with the pyrOtechnlc fires OF
fancy. The most ordinary Incidents OF life.
the merest cOmmon-places were caught up
on the wings of his Imagination. and
blended and effectively cOmmingled in his
illustrative OratOry, with the boldest and
most gorgeous metaphors
This was no refrigeration, but rather falls
far short of the simple truth. Stepping
almost Immediately from the log school
house to the arena of the courts, the youth
full adventurer, without money, without
friends and without influence, forced even
the NestOrs of the bar to yield to him the
highest place il the very front ranks of
their noble profession. With him there
were no intermediate stages of experience,
so memorable in the lives OF all other great
advocates. He sprang full armed like the
goddess from the head of Jove, into the
conflict, and, apparently without a struggle.
to victory, and TO the most splendid
1rilmphs of his profession.
From the hour of his debut his fame as
an orator. as lOgician and as a counselor
of profound learning, spread far and wide,
not only throughout the State, but all over
the Union The memorable epoch of specu-
Iation, of inflated credit, of broken banks
and of financial explosions was then near at
hand in.the new and exceedingly wealthy
state of Mississippi. In every great contest
at the bar Mr.. PreEtiss was the central, and
generally the controlling intellect and the
leading spirit. In the stormy period which
followed ne was, on every theatre of action
and in every scene, an actor without an
equal, and the object of universal admira
ton and applause. His energies never
Nearied his vigilance never slept; his learn
ing was without limit; his powers of inven-
ton were never at loss his memory re-
tanned with indelible fidelity all that he
ever knew; his expedients for apparently
hopeless cases never failed him: his liberali-
ty and generosity to friend and foe amazed
every behClder: his courage never quailed.
and his integrity or his honor was never
blemished. La the extent of his civil and
criminal practice, in his unexalnpled sue
,Nf L..
wards, in his boundess influence over
both the judgments and passions of men OF
either high or low position, he was above
all others-withOut ar equal and without
competitor.
His manner as an orator. even in his boy
ish efforts, was simple. transformations, art
less and sincere. He first drew to himself
and to his cause the interest and the sympa-
fbies of every heart, and then, by the most
skillfll and Overwhelming argument, COM
parison, illustration and appeal, captivated
and led away, Obedient to his will, the con
sciences and understandings of all who
heard Kim. His figures and metaphors were
drawn from the grand and the beautiful in
nature The mountains. the ocean, the
thunder riven crag, the rainbow, the stars,
the flowers the birds, or the glorious sun
set. became a thousand times more grand.
or thousand times more lovely, when
called INTO the service Of his matchless elo-
quence.
But this was not all. The gorgeous splen-
dor ia which he was accustomed to deck the
creations of his own wonderful imagination
has sometimes led those who only saw
and heard him as lie careered AMID
courts and popular assemblies to suppose
that he was only natural orator-lpore
brilliant, indeed, than any other, but.
after all, mere declaimer. But there
could be no greater mistake. From his
...a;lo,, .,+tnunnt u his last II - helinNpu