The whole state of Mississippi was alive with excitement; for the
moment, she felt that her sovereign dignity had been trifled with,
and that her reputation demanded the return of Prentiss to Congress.
Crowds followed him from place to place, making a gala time of weeks
together. Among the shrewd worldlings who take advantage of such times
"to coin money," was the proprietor of a traveling menagerie, and he
soon found out that the multitude followed Prentiss. Getting the list
of that remarkable man's "appointments," he filled up his own, and it
was soon noticed as a remarkable coincidence, that the orator always
"arrived along with the other 'lions.'" The reason of this meeting was
discovered, and the "boys" decided that Prentiss should "next time"
speak from the top of the lion's cage. Never was the menagerie more
crowded. At the proper time, the candidate gratified his constituents,
and mounted his singular rostrum. I was told by a person, who
professed to be an eye witness, that the whole affair presented a
singular mixture of the terrible and the comical. Prentiss was, as
usual, eloquent, and, as if ignorant of the novel circumstances with
which he was surrounded, went deeply into the matter in hand, his
election. For a while the audience and the animals were quiet, the
former listening, the latter eyeing the speaker with grave intensity.
The first burst of applause electrified the menagerie; the elephant
threw his trunk into the air and echoed back the noise, while the
tigers and bears significantly growled. On went Prentiss, and as each
peculiar animal vented his rage or approbation, he most ingeniously
wrought in its habits, as a facsimile of some man or passion. In the
meanwhile, the stately king of beasts, who had been quietly treading
the mazes of his prison, became alarmed at the footsteps over
his head, and placing his mouth upon the floor of his cage, made
everything shake by his terrible roar. This, joined with the already