"I made a speech three or four hours
long (he wrote to his mother); and I suppose you will say I have
acquired a great deal of brass since I left home, when I tell you that I
was not at all abashed or alarmed in addressing so grave a set of men as
their Honors the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States." In
attending the circuit courts of Mississippi he had experiences of the
roughest sort and many a hairbreadth escape. He wrote:

I travel entirely on horseback; and have had to swim, on my horse, over
creeks and bayous that would astonish you Northerners. Beyond Pearl
river I had to ride, and repeatedly to swim, through a swamp four miles
in extent, in which the water was all the time up to the horse's belly.
What do you think of that for a lawyer's life?

In the winter of 1836-7 he won the great "Commons" suit, which involved
a considerable portion of the town of Vicksburg. This made him, as was
supposed, one of the richest men in the State.

About this time he was induced to run for the legislature of
Mississippi. He was elected, and at once took a foremost position as
leader of his party.

The next summer he visited his home, and by a speech at a Whig political
meeting in Portland, on the Fourth of July, he so electrified his
hearers by his eloquence that he was pronounced, in the East, the most
finished orator of his time; as he really was. He became a candidate for
a seat in Congress, and made the most remarkable electioneering canvass
ever recorded. Traveling on horseback, he visited forty-five counties in
a sparsely-settled country. For ten weeks he traveled thirty miles each
week-day, and spoke each day two hours. He had announced his engagements
beforehand, and never missed one. Mississippi was a strong "Jackson
State," but Mr. Prentiss carried it for the Whigs. His seat was
contested by his Democratic opponent, and his speech in the House of
Representatives at Washington in favor of his claim gained for him a
national reputation as the greatest orator of the age. It occupied three
days in its delivery. He had not spoken long before intelligence of his
wonderful oratory reached the Senate chamber and drew its members to the
other House. Rumors of his speech ran through the city, and before it
was concluded the anxiety to hear him became intense. The galleries of
the House became densely packed, chiefly with ladies, and the lobbies
were crowded with foreign ministers, heads of departments, judges,