Young, ardent, and ambitious, he sought to rival his seniors at the
Bar. Unwilling to wait on time, he aspired to leap at once to this
equality. It was the daring of genius, and of a genius which counted as
only a stimulant the obstacles intervening. To grapple with giants,
such as he found in Guion, Yerger, Sharkey, McNutt, and Lake, would
have intimidated a less bold and daring mind; but Prentiss courted the
conflict _con amore_, and applying all his herculean powers with the
vigor of youth and the ardency of enterprise, he soon found himself
quite equal to any competitor.
When an infant, a fever settled in his leg, causing it to wither from
the knee to the foot, and doomed him through life to lameness. Like
Byron, he was sensitive upon the subject of this physical defect. It
was a serious obstacle to his locomotion, and in speaking compelled a
sameness of position injurious to the effect of his oratory. Scarcely
had two years elapsed from the time of his admission to the Bar before
his fame as a lawyer and advocate was filling the State. His business
had increased to such an extent as to require his undivided attention,
as he was employed in almost every important suit in that section of
the State.
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