An excerpt from an 1852 story by Lucius M. Sargent, who used popular fiction to promote temperance.

“I am afraid there is a God!” is one of many of Lucius M. Sargent’s popular stories about temperance and the evils of drinking. David, the narrator, describes how alcohol ruined the life of his brother Absalom. Despite being raised together with their sister by parents who were religious temperance advocates, Absalom is easily seduced and quickly destroyed by drink. Sargent’s stories were distributed by religious and temperance societies and collected in several volumes of The Temperance Tales.

Citation Information
Sargent, Lucius M., excerpt from “The temperance tales,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/a3cb93ea9a05f651b0a660d00fb41823.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Columbia University via HathiTrust.

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