The Patowmac Guardian, And Berkeley Advertiser

MR. WILLIS.

It is with surprise I find an unjust reflection on the conduct of Store-Keepers in this County, in one of your late publications, on account of their selling spirits by the pint--even for their administering a smaller quantity of cordials to their customers--and it is still more astonishing, that they should be reflected on for allowing them the salutary element of water.--So long as Store-Keepers are influenced by gratitude to their customers who they esteem as their best friends, their conduct in this manner will be invariably continued, notwithstanding the remonstrances and threats of your correspondent --and for these cogent reasons, as soon as the Farmer or Planter comes to town in the sultry heats of summer, would it not be very necessary, nay, would it not be highly necessary to accommodate him with a needful refreshment--such often are not provided with the requisites to enter a Tavern and pay the exorbitant price that such a refreshment would cost. --If a salutary relief of the same kind be found useful in the summer, it is evident that it is much more so in the winter. I cannot help to observe, nay, I wonder that any person would hold forth such ideas as has been represented in your paper--strange! that a Store-Keeper should not give a glass to a friend. Any man possessed of sense and would wish to abide by or govern himself by morality, would at all times choose to retire into a convenient and retired place, than to be disturbed by a promiscuous company, such as frequent Taverns, these being often composed of an inferior class, whose vociferations are extremely disagreeable. I wonder that any person would prevent them from bestowing their property to whom they please, when it is well known that notwithstanding all these favours, they generally support a tolerable rank in life. Your publishing these observations, if worth your insertion in your valuable paper, will be esteemed a favor done to a constant reader.