Teetotaling is a silly word. But in the 19th century, alcohol was a big subject. Both Anne Bronte in The Tenant of WIldfell Hall and Nathaniel Hawthorne in Twice Told Tales seem to advocate 100% abstention, though they give different arguments, and though they likely weren't as religious about it in their own lives as, say, Mormons.
In Anne Bronte's novel, Helen Graham advocates total abstention from alcoholic beverages, and teaches it rather forcefully to her son, because of the effects it has on the people around a drunk person. In the novel, they are violent, sloppy, rude, and gullible, and they gamble when they should be prudent. She forcefeeds her boy brandy when he is ill so that he'll associate the taste with illness (kind of like the way Germans can't drink root beer because their cough syrup was flavored with sasperilla), and both the readers and Helen's immediate audience are appalled by that tactic, her story, told to both audiences later, at least moves toward justifying her decision.
Hawthorne's story called "A Rill from the Town-Pump" personifies a water-pump as a kind of street crier selling his wares. It's difficult, through all the explication, to pry a moral. But this is Hawthorne, and there's always a moral. The story is basically selling the high points of drinking water, instead of the detriments of drinking alcohol as Helen did. Hawthorne also writes only on the individual benefits, like health and success. I imagine that in his time, Hawthorne would have been overwhelmed by temperance texts and movements to forbid alcohol. Politically. recall that rum was a major leg of the triangle trade, and a contributor and support of slavery. Temperance in 19th Century America was more than just a personal or even social decision: it had deep political relevance, especially in race relations.
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