“‘Jane and me were allays contrairy; she would have striped things, and I like spots. You like a spot too, Bessy; we allays hung together i’ that.’
    ‘Yes, Sophy,’ said Mrs. Tulliver, ‘I remember our having a blue ground with a white spot both alike—I’ve got a bit in a bed-quilt now; . . .’”

—George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, 1860. You might have noticed three semicolons in that snippet. Semicolons were good enough for George Eliot!