Song of Solomon, and the Psalms of that old poet
of the Lord--glorious old David.

"The immortal verse of wandering old Homer, the blind son of Scio's
isle, was the inspiration of Samian wine; and good old Noah, too, would
have sung some good and merry song, from the inspiration of the juice
of the vine he planted, but having to wait so long, his thirst, like
the Democratic nominee's here, became so great, that he was tempted to
drink too deeply, and got too drunk to sing; and this, I fancy, is the
true reason why this distinguished gentleman never sings.

"Perhaps there is no music in his soul. The glug-glug-glug of his jug,
as he tilts and pours from its reluctant mouth the corn-juice so loved
of his soul, is all the music dear to his ear, unless it be the same
glug-glug-glug as it disappears down his capacious throat. Now,
fellow-citizens, during this ardent campaign, which has been so
fatiguing, I have only been drunk once. Over in Simpson County I was
compelled to sleep in the same bed with this distinguished
nominee--this delight of the Democracy--this wonderful exponent of the
principles and practices of the unwashed Democracy--and in the morning
I found myself drunk on corn-whiskey. I had lain too close to this
soaked mass of Democracy, and was drunk from absorption."

This was more than the Governor could stand, and, amidst the shouts and
laughter of the assembled multitude, he left the stand, and declined to
meet again, before the people, the young Ajax Telemon of the Whig
party.

The memory of that campaign will probably never be forgotten in
Mississippi. Mothers, in stories of Prentiss, tell it now to their
children, and it and he have become a tradition of the early days of
Mississippi. The election terminated in the choice of Prentiss and
Wood, by a small majority; but the certificate was given, through the
basest fraud, to Claiborne and Gholson.

This was contested before the House of Representatives in Congress
assembled, and the contestants permitted to be heard on the floor of
the House. It was here, in the presence of the assembled wisdom of the
nation, Prentiss was to sustain the reputation which had preceded him,
and gloriously did he do it. When he rose to commence his speech, all
was silent, and every face expressed deep and excited expectation. The
unfortunate deformity of his leg was forgotten, in viewing the noble
contour of his head and face. Young, and for the first time in such a
pres