The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-05-15
8. S. PRENTISS.
"reminiscences of the Most Eloquent
Man Who Ever Addressed the
House of Representative.

"reminiscences Oh the MOSU ElOQuenp
Man Who Ever Addressed the
House of Representatives.
Sargent S. Prentiss was undoubtedly
the most eloquent man who ever ad.
dressed the United States house of
representatives. A carpet-bagger
from Maine, he went to Mississippi
poor and friendless, and not only
became foremost among her sons, but
acquired a national reputation. Ed.
ward Everett, after having listened to
one of his impassioned bursts of elo-
quence in Faneuil hall, turned to Dan
iel Webster, who sat next to him, and
asked: ''Did you ever hear anything
like it?" ''Never," said Webster,
''except from Mr.. Prentiss himself -
He was indeed a remarkable orator,
his intellectual endoWments presenting
n remarkable example in which great
logical powers and the most vivid i'm
agination were most happily blended.
AS DRYDEN said of Halifax, he was
man
OF piercing wit and frequent thought,
Endowed by nature and by learning
taught
To move assemblies.
The great secret of his oratorical sue
cess was his readiness-he seemed
never at loss for an epigram or re-
tort. and his impromptu speeches
were the best.
Prentiss used to tell good story
about his second canvass of the State of
Mississippi. He had arranged a route,
and one of his friends had gone ahead
to make arrangements for hall in
each successive town, and to advertise
the meeting there. The proprietor of
travelling menagerie took advan-
tage of these congregations, and fol-
lowed, exhibiting at each place
on the day that Prentiss spoke. The
first intimation that the orator had of
this rivalry was ut small town in the
northern part of the State, near the
Alabama line. After Prentiss had
been speaking for an hour. holding the
attention of his audience, he observed
some of the outsiders looking over
their shoulders, and this movement
was gradually followed by more of his
audience. He began to think he was
growing dull, and endeavored to rouse
himself up to more animation; but it
was all in vain. He at length looked
in the popular direction, and there, to
his horror, just coming over the hill,
was the elephant dressed in his scarlet
trappings and oriental splendor. A
foolish feeling of vanity, not to be
outdone by the elephant, came over
him, and he continued to talk. He
found it was no use. So he said:
''Well, ladies and gentlemen, am
beaten. But / have the consolation of
knowing that it was not by my compet-
itor | will not knock under to any
two-legged beast, but l yield to the
elephant
Prentiss afterward made arrange
ment with the proprietor of the men
agerie to divide time with the monkey
and the clown, the first hour being Civ
en- to politics. One of the cages was
used as roStrum. Soon he heard
low sound, which rcsembled a growl,
and learned that the hyena was his
nearest listener. There were large
auger-holes in the top of the box for
the admission of air. Prentiss COM
menced speaking, and when he reach
ed the Observation-Disclosures portion of
his speech he ran his cane into the
case, and called forth most horrible
yell from the enraged animal, at the
same time gesticulating violently with
the other hand. ''Why, fellow-citi-
zens," he would exclaim, s'the very
wild beasts are shocked at the political
baseness and corruption of the times.
See how this worthy fellow just below
me is scandalized. Hear his yell of
patriotic shame and indignation!'' The
effect was electric; he called down the
house in a perfect tempest of enthusi-
lo bi,1. lnI
foes, and enforced them by the yells of
his neighbors. The people of Missis-
sippi worshiped Mr.. Prentiss, his hab-
its, which would have been condemned
in other sections of the country, only
endearing him the more to them.
Generous to his foes, faithful to his
friends, he won the confidence and
affection of all who knew him. Bailey
Peyton used to illustrate his readiness
at an impromptu speech by narrating
an incident which occurred in 1874,
when Prentiss joined a hunting party,
with which he spent a week or two
under q tent in the forests of the Sun
flower, small river tributary to the
Mississippi, in the vicinity of Vicks-
burg. Towering above the tent stood
one of those remarkable elevations,
evidently the work of art, which
abound in the Mississippi valley, and
are commonly called Indian mounds.
One day Mr.. Prentiss, with the aid of
the vines and the overhanging boughs,
made his way to the top of the mound,
when his friends, who were collected
around the tent, discovered him,
united in call for a speech-a speech
from Prentiss. upon what subject?'
upon the subject on which you now
stand" He at once set off in play
full sally for the amusement of himself
and friends, but, warming in the sub
ject as he proceeded, his creative imag-
ination now peopled the forest with
that lost tribe, that mysterious race,
who, ages past, inhabited the country
before the birth of the aboriginal trees
that abound upon these huge piles.
He introduced every variety of charac-
ter, fairies, princes, courtiers, warriors;
marshaled armies and fought battles,
going on thus for more than an hour,
in a vein of philosophical reflection and
poetical invention, which impaired a
thrilling, almost real. interest to the
imaginary scene. The gentleman
from whom had this incident was q
man of cultivated tastes, had often
heard Mr.. Prentiss at the bar and on
the hustings, and he considered this
one of his happiest efforts.
The later years of Mr.. Prentiss were
passed in New Orleans, where he prac-
iiccd almost up to the hour of his
death, with an emaciated countenance
and u frame exhausted from the cruel
ravages of disease, but with spirit
undaunted, mind ever luminous and
exhibiting in every effort its almost
superhuman energy.-Ben. Pertey
POOre.
| General Lees Sons.
| General Robert 4. Lee left three or
! four sons. The elder, George Wash