Tubman's mother was assigned to "the big house"[15] and had scarce time for her family; consequently, as a child Tubman took care of a younger brother and baby, as was typical in large families.
When she was five or six years old, Brodess hired her out as a nursemaid to a woman named "Miss Susan".
Tubman was ordered to care for the baby and rock its cradle as it slept; when it woke up and cried, she was whipped. She later recounted a particular day when she was lashed five times before breakfast.
She carried the scars for the rest of her life.[18] She found ways to resist, such as running away for five days, wearing layers of clothing as protection against beatings, and fighting back.
As a child, Tubman also worked at the home of a planter named James Cook. She had to check the muskrat traps in nearby marshes, even after contracting measles.
She became so ill that Cook sent her back to Brodess, where her mother nursed her back to health. Brodess then hired her out again.
She spoke later of her acute childhood homesickness, comparing herself to "the boy on the Swanee River", an allusion to Stephen Foster's song "Old Folks at Home".[21]
As she grew older and stronger, she was assigned to field and forest work, driving oxen, plowing, and hauling logs.
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