Those who had not been able to work out all their tasks during the week were allowed by the overseer to finish it on the Sabbath, and thus save themselves from a whipping on Monday morning.

Those whose tasks were finished frequently employed most of that day in cultivating their gardens.
Many of the female hands were delicate young women, who in Virginia had never been accustomed to field labor.

They suffered greatly from the extreme heat and the severity of the toil.

Oh! how often have I seen them dragging their weary limbs from the cotton field at nightfall, faint and exhausted.

The overseer used to laugh at their sufferings.
They were, he said, Virginia ladies, and altogether too delicate for Alabama use: but they must be made to do their tasks notwithstanding.
The recollection of these things even now is dreadful.