The apothecary, Dr. Railston, shared his responsibilities with Miss Norma Hume, an experienced midwife who knew more about the practice of general medicine than anyone else in the county. Although there was no licensing requirement for concocting and dispensing medicines, Dr. Railston and Miss Hume had earned a good reputation around Hillsborough during their months of practice. They spent several hours each week gathering and processing native roots and herbs, including sassafras, mayapple, bloodroot, and slippery elm. They added honey, licorice, camphor, alcohol, paregoric, opium, saltpeter, and calomel to flavor and supplement their medicines, always careful to remember that an evil taste was considered commensurate with curative powers. As a team, they made a good living treating both male and female patients. Either together or separately, as appropriate, they diagnosed ailments, bled patients, prescribed whatever medication might be available, delivered babies, lanced boils and ulcerated sores, set broken bones, and sometimes extracted teeth.

When not busy, Miss Norma joined the other two women in what they called “stitching and chatting.” They got along well together and found that the work seemed to be quite enjoyable as they shared an ongoing conversation. Norma was almost helpless in dealing with leather and sewing, but seemed to know everything about what was going on in the community, both in the city and out in the countryside. She had a cousin in Norfolk whom she visited twice a year, and on her next trip took with her some orders for supplies that were not available in Hillsborough. Sophie sent a note to the Knoxes, which Miss Norma promised to deliver. While she was gone, for the first time in her life Sophie began to feel tired and sluggish. She seemed to be gaining weight and noticed things around the workplace that aggravated her. She found herself complaining to Josephine about little events concerning the shop, and then later apologizing. She resented, mostly without comment, having to fill customer orders and also cook and keep the house and shop clean.

Miss Norma returned from visiting her relatives on the coast, some of whom she had treated for “distemper,” and reported that Mr. and Mrs. Knox were getting along well, but that he wanted Henry to know that there was indisputable evidence that the British government was slowly but surely taking away the colonists’ rights.

Henry commented, “This has been clear to me for a long time. I thought we’d get away from it by settling way out here in the hills, but we may be worse off than the people in Massachusetts and Virginia.”