Read these lines: "There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these. This, however, is not considered a very great privation. They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep; for when their day's work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending, and cooking to do." According to the quoted lines, the greater hardship was

1. The quoted lines first grant that there were no beds, only a coarse blanket for some. 2. They then rank the two hardships directly: less difficulty from the want of beds than from the want of time to sleep. 3. That ranking makes the shortage of sleeping hours the greater hardship, option C. 4. Washing, mending and cooking after a full day in the field are given as the reason those hours disappear. 5. Option A takes the blankets as the answer, but the quoted lines call the want of beds the smaller of the two troubles. _Source: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), public domain_