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to us to beg for something to shroud him in. There was a half barrel with a few oyster shells a small jar & one or two iron spoons. [[strikethrough]]That was[[/strikethrough]] There were palings enough to keep a fire about an hour These were the whole contents of the cabin. They were all very thinly clad, [[strikethrough]]no gir[[/strikethrough] The girls had no outer garments of any kind. They escaped from slavery in the spring or summer. They had nothing to eat that day.
In another cabin about the same size was a man who had been sick for months, & his wife & a sick child 3 years old, & an orphan girl, about 14 years of age. There was a bed tick on the floor with a few rags & pieces of blanket, one or two chairs and boxes, a spider, two or three dishes. They had no food, were very thinly clad. The orphan had scarely anything but an old dress. Many other cabins were found that day where they were nearly as destitute, as regards clothing & bedding. Many were without fire & food. Some of those whom we found Monday morning could not be supplied with wood till Tuesday night, on account of the insufficiency of teams. How the kept from freezing I do not know.
There is one family to whom we had given so much that we felt we could not give more in justice to the others. One of the [[strikethrough]]ir[[/strikethrough]] children belonging to it is kept from school because her feet [[strikethrough]]are]][[/strikethrough]] were frozen so badly in that cold spell that they were swollen to nearly twice their usual size.

Transcription Notes:
Spider is a fireplace cooking tool. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-09-17 18:04:33