Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/380

 344 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

order came out of confusion, and the workers in wood soon found an employer, and sashes and Winds, and moldings and doors for the interior finish of houses, are now furnished to order without delay. Hence another success to Mr. Edes in another line of business.

In the year 1826 James Breck and Josiah Forsaith built the " Eagle Hotel," on Main street, near the bridge. It was constructed of brick, three stories high, and was for many years the most elegant hotel building in this part of the state ; but in 1856 it had run its race as an hotel, and was for sale. A long hne of accomplished landlords and caterers had dispensed ])ublic hospitality there ; but it was probably at the climax of its popularity — 1832 to 1844 — un- der the proprietorship of the late John Silver. It was from the portals of the Eagle Hotel — the Whig head quarters during the " hard cider " campaign of 1840 — that the great log cabin, on wheels, with Mr. Silver, whose weight was not less than 325 pounds, and two other ponderous gentlemen of New- port, occupying a front seat, and other seats crowded with passengers, with music and banners, cider barrels and coon skins, rolled away to Concord to attend a great Whig mass meeting, the largest, perhaps, ever held in this state. Mr. Edes purchased this Eagle Hotel property in 1856, aad changed it into a business block, now known as " Eagle Block," adapting the lower story to bus- iness purposes, and the upper floors to offices, and apartments for small families, and the concern is now paying a handsome percentage on the original invest- ment.

Mr. Edes next appears in the roll of a dry goods merchant. His business occupies the north room on the ground floor of Eagle Block, with rooms on the second floor for millinery and dress making apartments. He offers the largest and best assortment of goods in these lines to be found in Newport. We are authorized to make this statement by reference to the assessments for taxation on stock and trade made by the selectmen. His mercantile busi- ness, as well as all his other interests, is under his daily personal supervision.

The south room of Eagle Block is occupied by George C. Edes, son of Sam- uel H., as a clothing store and depot for gentlemen's furnishing goods.

Mr. Edes's penchant for renovating and restoring waste places at last extended to the Edes homestead on Main street. Not that the latter had come to ruin or decay, but premises so delightfully situated afforded him an opportunity for the display of his judgment and good taste in the arrangement of a residence. The ample, old fashioned house of years since, now beams upon the observer, with gable and cornice and turret from without ; while within, its doors and balustrades, and the general finish of the parlors, library, and other apartments, represent a mingling of the colors of our native woods, from orchard and for- rest ; and the old cherry tree that once gave them of its fruit in the garden, finds an honored position, in its age, as it glows from the panels of a door, wrought with maple or birch. Within this spacious dwelling gather daily four generations of the Edes family, from Frank, the eight years old son of George C., to the venerable Amasa Edes, who celebrated his nintieth birthday on the 2ist of March ult.

As heretofore stated in this sketch, Mr. Edes was admitted to the bar in Sul- livan county in 1851, and during all these thirty years and more, lying alongside the various business enterprises to which we have alluded, is his professional career. The legal profession may be considered as the main business of his life. On coming to the bar he entered into copartnership with his father, and was thus associated until the year 1872, when the elder Edes retired from the firm, and partially from professional business.

It may be said of Mr. Edes that he inherited the legal profession from his eminent father. He was reared in the atmosphere of a law office, and, con-

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