floors were made of heavy wooden planks. At one end of the cabin was the
chimney which was made out of dried mud, sticks, and dirt. On the side
of the cabin opposite the door there was a window where we got a little
air and a little light. Our beds were made out of the same kind of wood
that the floors were and we called them "Bed-Stilts." Slats were used
for springs while the mattresses were made of large bags stuffed with
straw. At night we used tallow candles for light and sometimes fat pine
that we called light-wood. As Mrs. Hale did all of our cooking we had
very few pots and pans. In the Winter months we used to take mud and
close the cracks left in the wall where the logs did not fit close
together."

According to Mrs. McDaniel all the serious illnesses were handled by a
doctor who was called in at such times. At other times Mr. or Mrs. Hale
gave them either castor oil or salts. Sometimes they were given a type
of oil called "lobelia oil." At the beginning of the spring season they
drank various teas made out of the roots that they gathered in the
surrounding woods. The only one that Mrs. McDaniel remembers is that
which was made from sassafras roots. "This was good to clean the
system," says Mrs. McDaniel. Whenever they were sick they did not have
to report to the master's house each day as was the case on some of the
other plantations. There were never any pretended illnesses to avoid
work as far as Mrs. McDaniel knows.

On Sunday all of the slaves on the Hale plantation were permitted to
dress in their Sunday clothes and go to the white church in town. During
the morning services they sat in the back of the church where they
listened to the white pastor deliver the sermon. In the afternoon they
listened to a sermon that was preached by a colored minister. Mrs.
McDaniel hasn't the slightest idea of what these sermons were about.