Two dresses of osnaburg were then
given each person.
The field hands, always considered an inferior group by the house
servants, worked from sunup to sundown. When they returned from the
fields they prepared supper for their families and many times had to
feed the children in the dark, for a curfew horn was blown and no lights
could be lighted after its warning note had sounded. There was very
little visiting to or from the group which dwelt here, as the curfew
hour was early.
Saturday varied a little from the other week days. The field work was
suspended in the afternoon to allow the mothers time to wash their
clothing. With sunset came the preparations for the weekly frolic. A
fiddler furnished music while the dancers danced numerous square dances
until a late hour.
Home remedies for illness were used much more extensively than any
doctor's medicine. Teas, compounded from sage, boneset, tansy, and
mullen, usually sufficed for any minor sickness, and serious illness was
rare.
Food was distributed on Sunday morning. Two-and-a-half pounds of meat, a
quantity of syrup, and a peck of meal were given each adult for the
week. A special ration for Sunday alone was potatoes, buttermilk, and
material for biscuits.
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