Evening star., 1946-09-01
Capital Sidelights
Bu Will P. Kennedy.

by WtLL +. hSTtftcuy.
One of the most active committees in
Congress is that on post offices and
post roads, of which Representative
Thomas G.. Burch of Virginia is chair
man Membership on this committee
eagerly is sought because 1t legislates
service directly for every individual
citizen. Mr.. Burch recently told group
of constituents that the first post office
in this country was set up in the Massa-
chusetts colony in 1889. Two decades
later a postal service was established in
Virginia. Under colonial law each
planter was required to provide mes
senger to convey the packets, as they
arrived, to the next plantation-under
penalty Of forfeiting hogshead Of
tobacco for default. A quarter Of a
century later, in 1872, the government of
New York pioneered a mail delivery
monthly between New York and Boston.
Then in July, 1888, william Penn estab-
lished post office in Philadelphia. with
weekly mail deliveries to suburban set
Elements and soon after that date regular
mail routes were in operation between
Philadelphia and the larger settlements
in Pennsylvania and Maryland. February,
1891, is credited with seeing the start of
the American post proper. From 1707
to the year before the Revolutionary
War the postal service in America was
controlled by the general post Office in
London.
The remnant of one of the old
Manor Estates" Of Maryland-"Clean
Drinking Manor"-dating from 1880,
and patented in 1899, southwest of For
est Glen, where the new Veterans Ad-
ministration Hospital will be erected,
is being developed In miniature gentle
mans estate country club style, to re-
relieve the existing housing shortage,
by the present owner, Col. Harry lie
Velle. This old manor" has gone
through many vicissitudes of boundary
changes, successfully having been in
cluded in the four counties of Charles,
Prince Georges, Frederick and Mont
gomery. This is explained in treasured
volume in the Library of Congress, en-
titled "Old Manors in the Colony Of
Maryland" by Annie Leakin Sioussat,
chairman of the Committee on His
torical Research of the Maryland So
ciety of the Colonial Danes of Amer
lea, wherein it is explained: 'At the
time of it's choice by Col. John Courts
of Sproxton, Yorkshire, it was In the
upper part of Charles County. When
Prince Georges was erected in 1895 1t
was included in that division. Fred
erick County having come into being in
1748, this manor land was therein
included. and when in 1776 Gen.
(Richard Montgomery was remem-
bered by grateful State for his gall
liant campaign in Canada by bestowal
of his name on the new county pro-
vided for the rapidly increasing settle
ment Of these parts, these / 400 acres
taken up in 1880, patented in 1899, may
be found in this much-named territory.
ITO opl lliSo VI PLi Gov WotSi WSAS 4oAAoao
long ago in the days when travellers
stopped on their way to and fro to
reach the Bladensburg public road and
enjoyed the ever-ready hospitality of
the manor people. In 1850 Charles
Jones, gentleman, married Elizabeth
Courts and the present house was then
begun. The tract of land known as
Hayes was purchased from this manor
by Capt. Arthur Lee of Blenheim,
Charles County, and conveyed to Maj.
Yates of the same county in 1885, In
1862 the Rev. Alexander Williamson
built the house on the plantation OF
Hayes, then supposed to embrace 1000
acres more or less
Among the first of recorded patents.
in Montgomery County, according to
the history by T. H. s. Boyd Of Clarks-
burg, published in 1879, is "Clear
Drinking patented to John Goats, Oc-
tober /, 1899, for TOO acres. This tract
extends down Rock Greek to Jones
Bridge. Walter G. Jones established a
mill on this survey, and leaves his epi-
taph upon an old stone that still re-
mains living monument to his folly.
The inscription, though somewhat de-
faced by time. is still legible:
Here lies the body and bones
OF old Walter c. Jones;
BY his not thinking,
He lost Clean Drinking
And by his shallow pate,
He lost his vast estafe,'"