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International Weekly Miscellany - Volume 1, No. 9, August 26, 1850 by Various
page 121 of 172 (70%)
talking, arguing, dining, visiting, and traveling, without rest for
three whole days. His companions would steal away at times for sleep,
but Prentiss was like an ever-busy spirit, here, and there, and
everywhere. The morning of the fourth day came, and he was to appear
before an audience familiar with his fame, but one that had never
heard him speak; an audience critical in the last degree, he desired
to succeed, for more was depending than he had ever before had cause
to stake upon such an occasion. Many felt a fear that he would be
unprepared. I mingled in the expecting crowd: I saw ladies who had
never honored the stump with their presence struggling for seats,
counselors, statesmen, and professional men, the elite of a great
city, were gathered together. An hour before I had seen Prentiss,
still apparently ignorant of his engagement.

The time of trial came, and the remarkable man presented himself,
the very picture of buoyant health, of unbroken rest. All this had
been done _by the unyielding resolve of his will_--his triumph was
complete; high-wrought expectations were more than realized, prejudice
was demolished, professional jealousy silenced, and he descended from
the rostrum, freely accorded his proper place among the orators and
statesmen of the "Southern Metropolis."

Mr. Clay visited the South in the fall of '44, and, as he was
then candidate for the Presidency, he attracted in New Orleans, if
possible, more than usual notice. His hotel was the St. Charles;
toward noon he reached that magnificent palace. The streets presented
a vast ocean of heads, and every building commanding a view was
literally covered with human beings. The great "Statesman of the West"
presented himself to the multitude between the tall columns of the
finest portico in the world. The scene was beyond description, and of
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