Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/333

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Kifth Avenue Hotel.

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��scarlet and wine color. The draw- ing-room is an almost perfect exam- ple in furnishing and decoration of a Louis XIV apartment. The decora- tion is by M. PoUier, and the carpets are by Mr. Temi)leton, of Glasgow. The grand dining-room is, i)erhaps, the finest Corinthian a[)artment in the country. The pedestals are of mahogany and black marble, the col- nmns are red French marble and gold, and the ceiling is a very effective open sky. One of the dining-rooms — the finest of the kind in the country — is of the period of Queen Anne, after designs by Mr. MacPherson, of Bos- ton ; and the tea-room is too lovely to describe. The apartments through- out the house are arranged single and en suite., and are models of elegance, cleanliness, comfort, and conven- ience."

The great extent of the accommo- dations of this substantial and pala- tial hotel, the completeness of its appointments, the excellence of its service and the luxury of its living, the protection and courtesy extended to guests, and the fairness and uni- formity of charges, conspire to make it the great representative hotel of the American system. The patrons of the hotel are people of worth and distinction from all walks in honor- able life, and they require great abil- ity and integrity on the part of the proprietors, whose fame has fortu- nately gone hand in hand with that of tiieir guests, and who are always ready to do all in their power to make old friends feel entirely at home, and to welcome new ones.

The patronage, from the crowded days of the contest for the presidency in 1860, with the presence of His

��Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and suite, has steadily increased, and in no iiotel history has there been so distinguished a list on any register as at this house.

In the evening the corridors may be rciiarded as the social and busi- ness exchange of the metropolis. The flow of peo[)le is incessant, and even a stranger would not fail to note a friend or a familiar face.

From a late issue of the Nev^ York Tribune we make the following ex- tracts, which may interest our read- ers :

Occasionally in the spring, autumn, or mid-winter there comes to the Fifth Avenue hotel such a concourse of promi- nent men as can be seen no where else in the country. Scores of diverse and oppo- site interests may have brought them under the same roof, but they meet and mingle in a general gathering, like law- yers who have closed their cases in court, and, after abusing each other roundly to the jury, are ready to go and have a " pipe " or a " glass " together. One of these remarkable assemblages has taken place within forty-eight hours. The meetings of the Peabody Education Fund trustees, the directors of the National Wool Growers' Association, the Xational Steam Navigation Board, the Democratic State Connnittee, and the Xfftional Bolt and Xut Manufacturers' Association, were among the caixses that brought prominent men here. Foremost in the list was ex- President Rutlierford B. Hayes, whose ripening years are leaving light impress. j\Ir. Hayes devotes a large share of his time and attention to educational and philanthropic labors. He has taken deep interest in prison reform and in the edu- cational development of the black race, and in both directions is doing a quiet but noble work. Chief-»Justice Morrison R. Waite, looking like a rugged and stubborn-mmded Puritan, with a face of

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