Visitors called the peach supper a hedonistic custom. (hedonistic: pleasure-seeking, self-indulgent, indulgent) Its critics deplored overindulgence and urged abstinence. (overindulgence: excess, intemperance, immoderation; abstinence: abstention, self-denial, self-restraint) Neither side had met Jo, who peeled fruit from dawn and regarded indulgence as the privilege of people who did no washing up. (indulgence: self-indulgence, gratification, pampering) This year she wanted to moderate the urge to buy the whole crop. (moderate: temper, lessen, soften)
She wrote "moderation" on a chalkboard and set out twenty little bowls. (moderation: temperance, restraint, self-restraint) The hedonic pleasure of the first peach was enough for some guests. (hedonic: pleasure-related, enjoyment-related) Others relished a second. The feared debauchery never arrived. (debauchery: dissipation, excess, depravity) An ascetic traveler admitted he had saved a place for one peach all week. (ascetic: austere, self-denying, abstemious)
What Jo had failed to foresee was the overabundance of stones. (foresee: anticipate, predict, envisage; overabundance: excess, surplus, surfeit) Children planted them behind the kitchen. Years later, a visitor credited the orchard to the town's frugality. (frugality: thrift, economy, careful spending) Jo remembered something considerably more enjoyable.