“You admitted, that extraordinary occasion might justify the use of ardent spirit, and that, on such occasions, you might use it yourself. I followed your example; but it has been my misfortune never to drink spirituous liquors, without finding that my occasions were more extraordinary than ever. Had I followed the precept and example of my neighbor Johnson, I should not have made a good wife miserable, nor my children beggars.”

—So says “G— T—”, husband of the narrator, to Deacon, “who keeps the shop” and sells him his booze. Lucius M. Sargent, “My Mother’s Gold Ring”, The Temperance Tales, 1847.