The Washington herald., 1912-01-02
HERMIT'S GHOST
The ONLY HOST
Continued from PAGE One.

terfeldian elaboration and comported
well with the court dress that he as
sumed only on New Years Day.
A farmer Of Forest Glen. about ten
miles from Washington and close by
Clean Drinking Manor, stopped in some
eight or nine years ago to pass the time
OF day with Mr.. Jones, who was known
as Hermit Jones' around about, and
see how he was getting along. He found
Nicholas on the rickety porch OF his
home. chatting with an elderly white
The farmer from Forest Glen dropped
the sack he was carrying and took on
his hat
"My Lord" Says MEX.
MY lord" remarked Nicholas to the
elderly gentleman, will you permit me
to present a neighbor Of mine, a land
holder of the viclnIty?"
The elderly gentleman having nodded
an assent. Nicholas, who was clad in
working clothing, presented his farmer
friend with great elegance of speech
and manner to Lord Pauncefote, his
gracious majesty's Ambassador at
washington. and the honorable Misses
Pauncefote." That T. q sample Of the
sort of folks that used to call on Mich
olas Jones, gentleman.
A curious and interesting story OF the
way the estate got its name OF Clean
Drinking Manor is contained in the
diary of Sir Thomas Courts, eldest son
of the man TO whom the original grant
OF 10000 acres was made early in the
eighteenth century. After the defeat
of Braddock by the French and In
dians near Pittsburg, a party OF Brit
ish officers stopped at Clean Drinking
Manor. They were entertained by Sir
Thomas so Hospitality that the stock
of wine in the cellar. already consid-
erably depleted by the lavishness OF
several generations Of Courts, gave out
completely. The chagrin OF the host
was intense, but Col George Washing
ton, who was present, by a gracious
act placed him at his ease and relieved
the situation. Sir Thomas says in his
diary;
''No More Wine"
when the blacks returned and told
me. in the presence Of some thirty Of
my guests. that there was no more wine
Of all the cellars plenty. / was embar-
rsssed to the point that my countenance
took on the red Of shams. Some Of the
scarlet-coated roysterers were disposed
20 sneer at the curtailed hospitality OF
the provincials, notwithstanding my blood
Is better by centuries than theirs. when
Col. Washington. in the uniform OF the
colonial troops. and with whose military
prowess report hath been hattering, rose
from the board, and, taking from the
wall the great drinking horn, illumined
with the quartered arms OF the Courts.
bowed to the company and said: Gentle
men, with me to the spring When Col.
reached the spring. he iIled
the great horn to the brin, and, lifting
Il on high, proposed, Clean Drinking
Manor The kindly action overwhelmed
me. and the name so graciously bestowed
have retained"
The acquaintance thus begun between
and Courts rC suited in the
formers return to the Manor House the
year to make a complete sur
vey OF the original grant. The north and
south stakes placed by him, which in this
case were stone monuments, can still be
seen. 1t was also this Incident at the
spring that led 20 the meeting between
and Robert Hanson Harri-
son, a relative Of Sir Thomas Courts.
who became secretary to Gen. Washing
ton November 6, IT75, and remained with
him throughout the Revolutionary War.