B

A. APPRENTICES AND SERVANTS

Laws regulating apprenticeship, 1731-1788

1. New York City, 1731

"A Law for Regulating Indentures of Apprenticeship," November 18,1731, Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1675-1776, IV (New York, 1905),97; hereafter cited as N.Y.C. Council Minutes.

…No merchant, shopkeeper or handy craft tradesman shall take any apprentice to teach or instruct them in their trade or calling within this City, without being bound by indenture before the Mayor, Recorder or one of the Aldermen of the said City, and enroling the same in the Town Clerk's Office. And that at the expiration of the said indentures the said apprentice shall be made free of this City by the master, if he hath well and truly served him. And the Clerk shall have for enroling each indenture of apprenticeship the sum of three shillings to be paid by the master of such apprentice bound as aforesaid.

And whereas the emigration of poor persons from Europe hath conduced greatly to the settlement of this State, while a colony; and whereas doubts have arisen tending to the discouragement of further importation of such poor persons; therefore be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every contract already made or hereafter to be made by any infant or other person, coming from beyond sea…the party entering into the same, for such term and for such services as shall be therein specified…But that no contract shall bind any infant longer than until his or her arrival to the full age of twenty one years; excepting such as are or shall be bound in order to raise money for the payment of their passages, who may be bound until the age of twenty four years, provided the term of such service shall not exceed four years in the whole.

And whereas, many persons are taken as apprentices or servants, when they are very young, and for several years of their apprenticeships or service, are rather a burthen, than otherwise, to their masters or mistresses: And whereas it frequently happens that such apprentices or servants, when they might be expected to be useful to their masters or mistresses, absent themselves from their service: And whereas the laws in being are not sufficient to prevent these inconveniences: For remedy whereof: Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the passing of this act, if any apprentice or servant shall absent him or herself, from his or her master's or mistress's service, before the term of his or her apprenticeship or service shall be expired, every such apprentice or servant shall, at any time or times thereafter, whenever he or she shall be found, be compelled to serve his or her said master or mistress, for double the time he or she shall have so absented him or herself from such service, unless he or she shall make satisfaction to his or her master or mistress for the loss he or she shall have sustained by such absence from his or her service; and so from time to time, as often as any such apprentice or servant, shall, without leave of his or her master or mistress, absent himself or herself from his or her service, before the term of his or her contract shall be fulfilled.

Provided always…That nothing in this clause of this act shall extend to any apprentice, whose master or mistress shall have received with such apprentice any sum or sums of money to learn such art, craft, mystery, profession, trade or employment. And also that no apprentice or servant shall be compelled to serve for any time or term or to make any satisfaction to any master or mistress, after the expiration of three years, next after the end of the term for which such apprentice or servant, shall have contracted to serve; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

2. South Carolina, 1740

"An act concerning masters and apprentices" in Thomas Cooper, ed., Statutes at Large of South Carolina, III (Columbia, S.C., 1838), pp. 544-546; hereafter cited as So. Car. Statutes at Large.

…All and every person and persons whatsoever, that now are or at any time or times after the passing of this Act shall be bound by indentures to serve as an apprentice within this Province, in any lawful employment, calling, art, mystery or trade, although such apprentice or any of them have been or shall be within the age of twenty-one years at the time of making their several indentures, shall be bound to serve for the years in their several indentures contained, as fully and effectually, to every intent, as if the said apprentice had been of full age at the time of making such indentures, and shall be bound, accepted and taken as an apprentice, accordingly…and provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to oblige any male apprentice to serve after he shall have attained the age of one-and-twenty years, or a female after she shall have attained the age of eighteen years.

…Every person or persons under the age of one-and-twenty years, and hereafter intending to be bound by indenture as an apprentice, in this Province, shall execute such indenture in the presence and with the approbation of his or her father, mother or guardian; and if such intended apprentice hath neither father, mother or guardian, in the presence and with the approbation of the church-wardens of the parish where such person is indented…which indenture or indentures, so executed…shall be good and effectual, to all intents and purposes, as if such apprentice had been of full age and by indenture of covenant had bound him or herself, or otherwise shall be void and of none effect.

…It shall and may be lawful to and for the master or mistress of any apprentice, indented to serve within this Province as aforesaid, upon sufficient cause, to be approved of by the parent or guardian, or where there is no parent or guardian, by the church-wardens of the parish where such master or mistress resides, to assign and transfer the indenture of such apprentice to any other master or mistress, exercising within this Province the same employment, calling, trade, art or mystery; which said indenture, so assigned, shall be valid and effectual to the assignee as to the time remaining: unexpired, as if the said apprentice had been originally indented to such assignee; and the said assignee, on accepting such assignment, shall be equally bound to the said apprentice, according to the tenor or the said indenture, as the original master or mistress was.

And it be further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any master or mistress within this Province shall misuse or evilly intreat his or her apprentice, or if the said apprentice shall have any just cause to complain, or do not his or her duty to the said master or mistress, then and in such case the said master, mistress or apprentice being grieved, and having just cause to complain, shall repair and make such complaint to any two justices of the peace within the county where such master or mistress resides, who shall and are hereby authorized and required by their wisdom and discretion to make such order and give such direction between the said master, mistress and apprentice, as the equity and justice of the case shall require…

3. New York, 1788

"An act concerning apprentices and servants," 1788 - ch. 15, Laws of the State of New York…1785-1788, II (Albany, 1866), 621-625.

…If any person, who shall bind him or herself, by and with the consent of his or her parent or other guardian…or who shall be bound by the overseers of the poor and justices or mayor or recorder and aldermen…to serve, as an apprentice or servant in the manner in this act above directed and prescribed, shall refuse so to do…the said justice or the said mayor or recorder or alderman respectively, shall have power and authority…to commit him or her unto ward in the bridewell or house of correction if any there be, or if there be no bridewell or house of correction, in the gaol of the city or county wherein such refusal shall take place, there to remain until he or she be contented and will serve as an apprentice or servant should serve, according to the true intent and meaning of this act.

And to the end that the time of the continuance of the service of such apprentice or servant may the more plainly and certainly appear, the age of every such infant so to be bound apprentice or servant, shall be mentioned and inserted in his or her indentures; and where the binding is by the overseers of the poor…the same…shall, as fully as they can, inform themselves of such infant's age, and from such information shall insert the same in the said indentures; and the age of such infant so inserted and mentioned in the said indentures (in relation to the continuance of his or her service) shall be taken to be his or her true age, without any further proof thereof.

Advertisements for runaway servants and apprentices

Boston Evening Post, Oct. 20,1735.

Ran away from Mr. Thomas Keighley of Boston, Twine and Line spinner, on the 30^th of October last an English Servant Boy named John Long, about 17 Years old, well set, of a black complexion, with a large Head, a wide Mouth, and large Ears. He had on an old black coloured Jacket, a pair of trousers, a Cotton and Linnen Shirt, yarn Stockings, and old Shoes. All Masters of Vessels and others, are hereby forbid to harbour, conceal, or carry off the said Servant, as they will avoid the Penalty of the Law in that Case made and provided.

Whoever brings the said Servant to his above said Master shall have Forty Shillings Reward, and all necessary Charges paid.

Boston Evening Post, Oct. 7, 1751.

Ran away from his Master Benjamin Renken of Boston, Taylor, on Tuesday morning last, an Irish Lad named James Hatherton, but has sometimes called himself James Smith. He is well set, and of a midling Stature, has large Legs, and speaks pretty good English. Carried away with him a Gun, under Pret[ence] of goi[ng] to train. Had on when he went away, a Beaver Hat newly drest, and a worsted Cap, a blue Coat lined with Red, trim'd with Yellow Metal Buttons, the Jacket was double breasted, blue yarn Rib'd Stockings, peeked toed turned pumps, with white Metal Buckles.

Whoever shall apprehend said Servant, and bring or convey him to his said Master in Boston, near the Draw-Bridge, shall have Four Dollars Reward, and all necessary Charges paid by me. Benjamin Renken.

All Masters of Vessels and others, are hereby cautioned not to conceal, entertain, or carry off the Said Servant, as they would avoid the Penalty of the Law in that Case made and Provided.

Pennsylvania Gazette, July 4,1751.

Ran away on the 1st instant, from Daniel Bates of Gloucester county, an English servant man, named George M'Cartney, about 19 years of age, a short fellow, pretty well set, of a yellow complexion, a little pitted with smallpox; Had on when he went away, an old felt hat, with a piece sewed on part of the brim of it, a ragged linnen cap, a blue jacket, without lining, with soal-leather buttons on it, coarse, dirty ozenbrigs trowsers, a check shirt, and an old pair of women's shoes, with the heels out, and pieces of leather put in the room of them. Whoever takes up and secures said servant, so that his master may have him again, shall have Forty Shillings reward, and reasonable charges, paid by

Daniel Bates

Pennsylvania Gazette, July 18,1751.

Run away on the 12th inst., from William Oakford, at the head of Alloway's Creek, Salem county, a servant man, named Joseph Steel, of a middle stature, short black curl'd hair, about 28 years of age… He took with him a Negroe boy named Caesar: Had on when he went away, a new lead colour'd thick cloth coat and vest, leather breeches, short trowsers, thread stockings and half-worn shoes; he had also two felt hats, and two shirts, one white the other brown. The said servants took with them a bay horse, has got the pole-evil, and paces well; a rifle barrel gun, and a large yellow dog, with a white ring round his neck. Whoever takes up and secures said servants, so that their master may have them again, shall have Forty Shillings reward for each, and reasonable charges, paid by

William Oakford

N.B. The said Steel has serv'd a time in Bucks county, about 17 miles from Philadelphia, on Bristol road; and the Negroe boy was bought out of Philadelphia, about two years since.

Pennsylvania Gazette, April 3, 1760.

Run away last Night from William Scott, of this City, an Apprentice Boy, named Job Goodman, by Trade a Taylor, about 16 or 17 years old, a well looking Boy, tall and slim, has a very innocent Look and Speech, wears brown Hair, tied behind with a black Ribbon (but it is likely he will cut it off, for he has got a blue and white Cotton Cap). Had on when he went away, a light coloured Cloth Coat and Breeches, with yellow carved Metal Buttons, black Jacket, check Shirt, and a pair of Silver Buckles on his shoes. Whoever takes up the said Apprentice, and brings him home to his said Master shall be rewarded with Forty Shillings, and all reasonable Charges, paid by William Scott.

NB It is likely he may change his Clothes, as he has got, in a greenish coloured Bag, a new blue German Serge Coat, with Buttons and Lining of the Colour, and sundry other clothes, etc. All Masters of Vessels are forbid to carry him off at their peril. If the above Apprentice is inlisted in any of his Majesty's Troops, the Subscriber would be much obliged to any Person that would let him know.

Pennsylvania Gazette, March 6, 1776.

This present instant on the fourteenth day,

My apprentice boy did run away;

Thomas Stillenger he is called by name,

His indenture further testifies the same;

He has always been a vexatious lad,

One reason why he is so meanly clad;

To describe the rest I am not inclined,

Cloth for a jacket he left behind;

Of apple pies he took with him but five,

For to preserve himself alive;

Three quarter dollars are missed of late,

Which perhaps he took to pay his freight;

Believe him not if you be wise,

He is very artful in telling lies;

For which I whipt him, I thought severe,

But did not make him shed one tear.

Whoever doth him safely secure

Of a reward they may be sure,

Six-pence at least I do propose

To give for him with all his clothes;

Or clear me of him forever and mine.

And his indentures away I will sign;

Now to inform you further still,

I keep a saw and fulling mill;

In East-Fallowfield township

and Chester County is the place of my abode,

I subscribe my name unto the same, and that is

William Moode.

Bargains, black and white

Boston Evening Post, Oct. 21,1751.

To be given away, a fine Negro Male Child. Enquire of the Printer.

Boston Evening Post, Dec. 9, 1751.

To be sold, a Negro Girl of twelve Years old, that can be well recommended. Enquire of the Printer.

Pennsylvania Gazette, Jan. 28, 1755.

To be sold, A likely Negro woman and child. Enquire at the New Printing Office.

A likely brisk Servant lad, about 16 years of Age, and is to serve till he's 21 years old, he's this country born, and brought up to plantation work, can read, write, and cypher. Any person that he will suit, may agree with Mr. James Whitehead, Keeper of the Workhouse, in Philadelphia, who has the selling of him.

Pennsylvania Gazette, April 3, 1760.

To be sold by Thomas Overrend, at the Drawbridge, Two white Boys and a Negro Lad; all about fourteen Years of Age. Also very good Lime juice, by the Hogshead or Gallon.

Servant complains of harsh treatment, Maryland, 1756

Elizabeth Sprigs, Maryland, to John Sprigs, London, England, Sept. 22, 1756, in Isabel M. Calder, Colonial Captivities, Marches and Journeys (New York, 1935), pp. 151-152.

Betty may have been a convict servant. According to a census taken in 1755, out of Maryland's total white population of 107,000, indentured servants numbered 6,870 and approximately 2,000 were convict servants. Abbot E. Smith, Colonists in Bondage: White Servitude and Convict Labor in America, 1607-1776 (Chapel Hill, 1947), p. 324.

Honred Father

My being for ever banished from your sight, will I hope pardon the Boldness I now take of troubling you with these. My long silence has been purely owing to my undutifullness to you, and well knowing I had offended in the highest Degree, put a tie to my tongue and pen, for fear I should be extinct from your good Graces and add a further Trouble to you. But too well knowing your care and tenderness for me so long as I retaind my Duty to you, induced me once again to endeavour if possible, to kindle up that flame again. O Dear Father, believe

what I am going to relate the words of truth and sincerity, and Ballance my former bad Conduct [to] my sufferings here, and then I am sure you'll pitty your Destress[ed] Daughter. What we unfortunat English People suffer here is beyond the probibility of you in England to Conceive, let it suffice that lone of the unhappy Number, am toiling almost Day and Night, and very often in the Horses druggery, with only this comfort…["]You Bitch you do not halfe enough,["] and then tied up and whipp'd. To that Degree that you'd not serve an Annimal, scarce any thing but Indian Corn and Salt to eat and that even begrudged nay many Neagroes are better used. Almost naked no shoes nor stockings to wear, and the comfort after slaving dureing Masters pleasure, what rest we can get is to rap ourselves up in a Blanket and ly upon the Ground. This is the deplorable Condition you poor Betty endures, and now I beg if you have any Bowels of Compassion left show it by sending me some Relief, Cothing is the principal thing wanting, which if you should condiscend to, may easely send them to me by any of the ships bound to Baltimore Town Patapsco River Maryland, and give me leave to conclude in Duty to you and Uncles and Aunts, and Respect to all Friends

Honred Father

Your undutifull and Disobedient Child

Elizabeth Sprigs

Redemptioners and their children, ca.1750-1818

1. Commerce in human beings, 1750

Gottlieb Mittelberger, Journey to Pennsylvania, ed. and trans. Oscar Handlin and John Clive (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), pp. 17-19; first published in 1756.

Mittelberger's journey extended from 1750 to 1754.

Before I begin to describe how this commerce in human beings takes place I must report what the voyage to Philadelphia or Pennsylvania costs. Anyone older than ten years has to pay £ 10, or 60 florins, for the passage from Rotterdam to Philadelphia. Children between five and ten pay half fare, that is to say £5, or 30 florins. All children under the age of five get free passage. In return the passengers are transported across the ocean; and as long as they are at sea, they get their board, however bad it is (as I reported above).

All this covers only the sea voyage; the cost of land transportation from home to Rotterdam, including the Rhine passage, comes to at least 40 florins no matter how economically one tries to live on the way. This does not include the expenses of any extraordinary contingencies. I can assure readers of this much -- that many travelers on the journey from their homes to Philadelphia spent 200 florins, even with all possible thrift.

This is how the commerce in human beings on board ship takes place. Every day Englishmen, Dutchmen, and High Germans come from Philadelphia and other places, some of them very far away, sometime twenty or thirty or forty hours' journey, and go on board the newly arrived vessel that has brought people from Europe and offers them for sale. From among the healthy they pick out those suitable for the purposes for which they require them. Then they negotiate with them as to the length of the period for which they will go into service in order to payoff their passage, the whole amount of which they generally still owe. When an agreement has been reached, adult persons by written contract bind themselves to serve for three, four, five, or six years, according to their health and age. The very young, between the ages of ten and fifteen, have to serve until they are twenty-one, however.

Many parents in order to pay their fares in this way and get off the ship must barter and sell their children as if they were cattle. Since the fathers and mothers often do not know where or to what masters their children are to

be sent, it frequently happens that after leaving the vessel, parents and children do not see each other for years on end, or even for the rest of their lives.

People who arrive without the funds to pay their way and who have children under the age of five, cannot settle their debts by selling them. They must give away these children for nothing to be brought up by strangers; and in return these children must stay in service until they are twenty-one years old. Children between five and ten who owe half-fare, that is, thirty florins, must also go into service in return until they are twenty-one years old, and can neither set free their parents nor take their debts upon themselves. On the other hand, the sale of children older than ten can help to settle a part of their parents' passage charges.

A wife must be responsible for her sick husband and a husband for his sick wife, and pay his or her fare respectively, and must thus serve five to six years not only for herself or himself, but also for the spouse, as the case may be. If both should be ill on arrival, then such persons are brought directly from the ship into a hospital, but not until it is clear that no purchaser for them is to be found. As soon as they have recovered, they must serve to payoff their fare, unless they have the means immediately to discharge the debt.

It often happens that whole families -- husband, wife, and children -- being sold to different purchasers, become separated, especially when they cannot pay any part of the passage money. When either the husband or the wife has died at sea, having come more than halfway, then the surviving spouse must pay not only his or her fare, but must also pay for or serve out the fare of the deceased.

When both parents have died at sea, having come more than halfway, then their children, especially when they are still young and have nothing to pawn or cannot pay, must be responsible for their own fares as well as those of their parents, and must serve until they are twenty-one years old. Once free of service, they receive a suit of clothing as a parting gift, and if it has been so stipulated the men get a horse and the women a cow.

2. Parents freed by indenture of children, 1818

Jacob Boller, Philadelphia, to Friedrich Rapp, Harmony, Indiana, Nov. 4 and Dec. 7, 1818, in Karil. R. Arndt, George Rapp's Harmony Society, 1785-1847 (Philadelphia, 1965), pp. 191-193.

German immigrants, mistakenly believing that George Rapp's Harmony Society would pay their passage to America, were stranded when the Society failed to do so. As jn Mittelberger's day, parents with children of working age sold them as servants on the best terms they could arrange. Boller was the Philadelphia agent of the Rapp colony.

Meanwhile the parents ate beginning to indenture (verbinden) their children and are laying as much of their own passage on them as they can bear! Yesterday, one, Hoffman, allowed a girl of ten years to be indentured for ten years for $80.

Schiller and wife, who placed their passage on their children, are free, except a small one. She has just borne a child. Hoffman and wife are free through their children. Schnabel and wife are free by your order, are working industriously, and are saving. It is expected that she will soon bear a child, Schwerdt, wife, and one child are not yet free. Vogt, who with his wife has already indentured several of his beautiful children, but upon whom $200 still rests, is therefore still on the ship. She lies in .the hospital giving birth to a child. The Vogt family while they were still all together was an interesting family. Widow Kuenzler is free through her four grown children; the oldest daughter Christiana Frederica lives with us and is an honor to her countrymen. Widow Hass, who lost her husband at sea, and her two children are still on the ship in a deserted condition. Gutbrod and family, not yet free. Witmayer and family not yet free. The people are no longer on board ship but in a storehouse nearby where one can have heat…seemingly they are willing to resign themselves to their fate and the direction of the Lord. The Vogt woman, however, does not want to give up Harmonie and her friends there. Likewise widow Kuenzler who has a brother there.

Special practices of apprenticeship among the Moravians in North Carolina reconciling the Law of the Land with the Rules of the Brethren

1. Moravians dispose of unruly apprentices by apprenticing them outside the community: indenture of a shoemaker, 1769

Adelaide L. Fries, ed., Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, II (Raleigh, 1925),608-609.

AND during the whole Time of his Apprenticeship lodgeth and boards him the said Andrew Kremser, in the Single Brethren's house, according to the Custom of the United Brethren. AND if the said Apprentice should turn out to be of such Life and Manners, that according to the Rules of the Brethren he could not be tolerated amongst them, and in that Case at the Request of the said Frederic Marshall or his Heirs the said Jacob Frederic Pfeil shall bind out his said Apprentice to an other Master not residing at the Settlement aforesaid.

2. Strict supervision of the conduct of apprentices by the governing council of elders (Aeltester Conferenz)

Extracts from the minutes of the Aeltester Conferenz, Aufseher Collegium, and Grosse Helfer Conferenz, 1773, in Records of the Moravians, 11,765-766. [1a]

March 2. (Aelt. Conf.) Br. Bonn, as Executor, acting for Sr. Merk, wishes to bind Br. Merk's two apprentices, Jacob Wohlfart and Strub, to other Masters, and asks the opinion of Conference. Brn. Broesing and Triebel were suggested, and after consulting with the Masters, with Br. Bonn, with the widow, and with both boys, and finding all willing, the boys moved from Bethabara to Salem Brothers House on March 6th, and were taken by the Masters for eight days on trial.

March 9. (Aelt. Conf.) Little G*** K***, who ran away last Sunday from his foster-father and Master, Br. Aust, will be taken back today, by Br. Petersen, and will be told that he must learn obedience before anyone can think of letting him learn a profession.

Before boys are bound to Masters the Aufseher Collegium shall speak with both parties, and then the boy shall be bound by a Justice, with Brethren from the Collegium present as witnesses.

When an Apprentice becomes of age he becomes free, according to the Constitution of the land; and his Indenture shall be canceled by the Aufseher Collegium, with the approval of the Hand-work Committee. And if either Master or Apprentice has anything to complain of it shall be discussed at that time, and settled, so that there may be no after-talk, or groundless accusation.

1a. The governing councils of the community, which regulated all economic affairs.

Minutes of the Aeltesten Conferenz of Wachovia, N.C., Jan. 14, 1774, in Records of the Moravians, II, 714.

Jan. 14. L*** M*** has written a note to the Conferenz-his Master, A***, has dismissed him from the workshop. There is fault on both sides, but a Master has not the right to dismiss a journeyman or apprentice, but should try to train the boys so as to make orderly and useful men of them. As there seems to be hope of doing something with M*** we will try to bring the two together again, and persuade them to bury the past, Br. Tiersch will speak with A***, and Br. Muschbach with M***.

Extracts from the minutes of the Aufseher Collegium of Salem, N.C., 1772, Tuesday, Dec. 1, in Records of the Moravians, 11,709.

…It is not well that during work hours journeymen should be idle, should go pleasure-walking into the woods or elsewhere, or should go to the mill, to Bethabara or Bethania, without object, and without permission from their Masters or the House officials. The apprentices should also be kept in better order, and there should be an understanding between the Choir officials, the Brethren in charge of the Boys, and the Masters, to hold them to their duties, that they go to the work-shops at the proper time, that they work diligently and well, that they do not linger too long at meals, and that they continue to work until stopping time, or until the Master gives permission to lay the work aside. Much of this can be adjusted in a conference of Master-workmen.

Children not to be bound as servants, Pennsylvania, 1793

Respublica v. Keppele, 2 Dallas (Penna.) 197 (1793).

According to this decision, parents or guardians could not bind out children except as apprentices to learn a trade. In practice, trade was given a liberal interpretation. "The art and trade of housewifery," for example, was a euphemism for servitude. The same was true of apprenticeship in many agricultural and industrial employments. See Herrick A. Cheeseman, White Servitude in Pennsylvania, Indentured and Redemption Labor in Colony and Commonwealth (Philadelphia, 1926), p. 108.

A habeus corpus was issued to bring up the body of Benjamin, a minor about fourteen years old, who had been bound by his guardian's consent to the defendant, to serve her till he should arrive to the age of fifteen. Having absconded from her service, he was commtted to gaol for that cause, and a general question was made whether an infant could be bound as a servant in Pennsylvania.

The Court was unanimously of opinion that the indenture, in this case, was void and gave their opinions seriatim.

The opinion of Justice Bradford (which is all I have in my notes), entered fully into the principles of the decision as follows.

Bradford, Justice: The imprisonment of this infant, if justified at all, must be supported under the Act of 1700 respecting servants, so that the only question for our determination is whether he be a servant within the meaning of that act of Assembly.

It is clear that this indenture, by which the infant is bound to serve, and not to learn any trade, occupation, or labor, cannot be supported upon the principles of common law nor by the express words of any statute. But, it is said, that it depends upon the custom of the country, and it is evident that such a custom is referred to in our laws. I have taken some pains to ascertain its origin and extent.

This custom seems to have originated with the first adventurers to Virginia and to have arisen from the circumstances of the country. Persons desirous of coming to America, and unable to pay for their passage in any other

way, shipped themselves and their children as servants. If they were imported under indenture, those indentures were held good, and they were to serve according to their stipulation; but if there was no indenture, they were to serve according to the custom, to wit, five years if of full age or above seventeen, and if under seventeen, till they arrived at the age of twenty-two, or in some places till twenty-four. The early laws of Virginia and Maryand (some of them so early as 1638) speak of these servants thus imported. They are called "servants according to the custom," "servants bound to serve the accustomary five years," and sometimes are described as "servants sold for the custom."

These servants were in a very degraded situation. They were a species of property, holding a middle rank between slaves and freemen; they might be sold from hand to hand and they were under the correction of laws exceedingly severe.

It appears by all the early laws on this subject that the custom extended to imported servants only, and it extended to all such as were imported, whether minors or adults. The custom was founded on necessity, and it was thought to be mutually beneficial to the colony and to the emigrant. But no such necessity existed as to the children who were already in the province. The custom, therefore, never extended to them, and there was in all the colonies, and particularly in Pennsylvania, a marked distinction between these two classes of minors. This is to be found in the articles of the laws agreed on in England, and more fully in the laws of 1682. These speak only of imported servants, and direct how long such servants, brought into the province without indentures, shall serve; but in Chapter 112, all parents and guardians in the province are enjoined to teach the children under their care to read and write till they are twelve years old, and that they be instructed in some useful trade or skill. This policy of putting children out as apprentices is carried into our poor laws and those which relate to orphans. Overseers of the poor and the Orphans Courts have no authority to bind out minors as servants, even such as are the objects of public charity. They must be bound apprentices to some "art, trade, occupation, or labor."

There have been instances of children here being bound out as servants, but this has not been general and the courts of justice have always frowned on the attempts.

I agree that it is not necessary to determine how far a father may transfer to another the right which he has to the service of his children, in consideration of that other's instructing him in reading, writing, and the like; nor whether the Court would interfere to take the child out of such person's custody. But, I think it right to say that no parent, under any circumstances, can make his child a servant, in the sense in which this boy is held as such. Though he is entitled to the service of his child, he cannot enforce it, as a master can that of his servants. He cannot commit him to gaol if he runs away; he cannot demand the penalty of five days service for every day of absence, and therefore it is impossible that he can transfer such right to another.

I am, therefore, of opinion with the rest of the Court that this boy is not a servant within the meaning of the Act of 1700, and consequently he must be discharged.

Apprentice prefers to stay with master rather than return to join natural mother

Commonwealth v. Hamilton, 6 Mass. Reports 273 (1810).

Catharine Cuddy was apprenticed by her mother to a master in Canada. Later the master moved to Massachusetts, and the girl accompanied him willingly. Catharine's mother remarried and brought a suit to secure her return.

The chief justice enquired of the child if she was restrained against her wishes; to which she answered that she was not, but that she was very desirous of continuing in the family, and under the protection of Mr. Hamilton.

By the court. By the return of this writ, it appears that Catharine Cuddy was bound as an apprentice to the defendant, agreeably to the laws of Upper Canada where the parties then resided. Although it may be true, that on removing into this state, the defendant could not have compelled her to accompany him, yet as she came voluntarily, and as the defendant is under obligation to provide for her; which obligation it is by no means certain that the laws of this commonwealth would not enforce in a case situated like the present; as there is no evidence of any neglect of that duty on his part, but on the contrary, the child appears to have been well treated, and to be attached to the family of the defendant; it would be unreasonable to take her from his care and deliver her to her mother, who by her marriage to her present husband ceased to have any power of controuling her own actions, or of providing for the support and education of her child. Whatever rights she might have had as guardian by nurture, they have certainly ceased at the age [fourteen] of '.this child; and the husband is under no legal obligations to be at any expense for that object. Let the child be discharged with liberty to remain in the defendant's family, as she has requested: and we further order that neither the said Margaret, nor any other person or persons, molest, interrupt or disturb her in respect to her residence in the family of the said Hamilton.

The making of a printer, 1809-1826

1. Thurlow Weed's experience, 1809

Thurlow Weed, The Autobiography of Thurlow Weed (Boston, 1883), pp. 2-3, 10, 21-26.

When Thurlow Weed (1797-1882) was apprenticed to a printer at the age of twelve, he had already acquired a variety of work experiences. As in Franklin's case almost a century earlier, failure to complete the apprenticeship did not bar Weed's employment as a printer.

My first employment, when about eight years old, was in blowing a blacksmith's bellows for a Mr. Reeves, who gave me six cents per day, which contributed so much towards the support of the family. 1 stood upon a box to enable me to reach the handle of the bellows. My next service was in the capacity of boy of all work, at a tavern in the village of Jefferson, two miles from Catskill, kept by a Captain Baker, who had, 1 remember, made a great mistake in exchanging the command of a ship for a tavern. After the sheriff took possession of Captain Baker's wrecked hotel, 1 got a situation as cabin boy on board the sloop Ranger, Captain Grant. This gratified a desire 1 had to see the city of New York. 1 was then (1806) in my ninth year. 1 remember, as if it were but yesterday, after carrying the small hair trunk of a passenger from Coenties Slip to Broad Street, finding myself in possession of the first shilling that 1 could call my own. 1 remember, too, how joyfully 1 purchased with that shilling three two-penny cakes and three oranges for my brother and sister, how carefully 1 watched them on the passage back, and how much happiness they conferred…After the Ranger was either condemned or laid up (I don't know which), 1 went as cabin boy on board the sloop Jefferson, Captain Jacobus Bogardus. I believe I went one trip with Captain Bogardus in the old sloop Washington before the Jefferson was finished.

1806.--1 greatly enjoyed life as a sloop's cabin boy. The trip between Catskill and New York averaged from four to ten days. When becalmed we would go ashore in a small boat to obtain vegetables, fruit, etc. I was soon familiar with all the villages and all the points of historical interest along the river. I became during that time much attached to a sailor named James VanDervoort, a tall, handsome man, who sang "Cease, rude Boreas," and other nautical songs, with great effect. Van Dervoort, when navigation closed, shipped for a winter voyage to China, or the East Indies. In the "yams" he used to "spin" about the wonders of the East I was greatly interested, and but for the circumstance that I could not go aloft without becoming dizzy-headed, I should have gone to sea with my friend Van Dervoort.

Thus, but for an infirmity which incapacitated me for the most essential part of a sailor's duty, my occupation would have been that of a seaman. Instead of printer.

In the fall and winter of 1808, I was equivocally attached to the office of the "Catskill Recorder." I say equivocally, because I was not regularly apprenticed, and yet I carried the paper to the village subscribers, and did "chores" about the office, with a strong desire and hope that I should be received as an apprentice. But the hope was disappointed by the removal of my father, with his family, to the town of Cincinnatus, Cortland County, in March, 1808…I bitterly lamented this change, because it cut off my cherished design of becoming either a sailor or a printer.

Late that autumn [1809] I was rejoiced with the information that printing materials had arrived at Onondaga Hollow, where a newspaper was to be published. My father, anxious to see me in the way of learning a trade, gratified my own wishes by making an application in my behalf as an apprentice. But my spirit was crushed on his return, with an answer that no apprentice was wanted, one having been already engaged. I applied to Mr. Hopper, who was a leading patron of the embryo paper, for his interposition with its proprietor, who finally consented to take me on trial, remarking in no encouraging tone and manner that I was too big and clumsy for a printer, but that I could cut wood and make fires. This ungracious reception, however, did not discourage me. The ambition to be a printer was irrepressible.

My first employment as an apprentice, beside cutting wood and making fires in the printing-office, was in "treading pelts," a duty of which the present generation of printers is growing up in ignorance.

The balls, which have been succeeded by rollers, were made of green sheepskins, which had to undergo a sort of tanning process between your feet and the floor. It was a long and tedious operation, as every printer whose apprenticeship commenced previous to 1812 will attest.

In 1814 dressed deerskin began to be used instead of pelts, but it required time to induce old printers to become reconciled to this innovation.

I was now a half-made printer out of place. A few weeks previous one Royal T. Chamberlin had established a paper called the "Tocsin" at Union Springs, Cayuga County. In that paper I saw that "A boy who has worked some at the business is wanted as an apprentice at this office." I therefore started on foot for Union Springs, and was received by Mr. Royal T. Chamberlin as the boy who had worked some at the business. His office was in the old town of Scipio, some nine miles above the Cayuga bridge. We boarded with the editor and publisher's father, who lived on a farm about two miles from the office. We took an early breakfast, brought our dinner with us, and returned to supper in the evening. I enjoyed this very much, especially as it was in peach season and Mr. Chamberin's father had the fruit in great abundance and perfection.

I went to work again in the furnace until December, when, having earned some clothes and finding myself with three dollars in cash, I started on foot for Utica, where I had the good fortune to get employment in the printing-office of Messrs. Seward & Williams.

To my application for a situation Mr. Williams, after looking me over somewhat deliberately, replied that he had no work for me; but as I was leaving the office, evidently de- pressed and as evidently in need of employment, he called me back, and inquired where I came from, how old I was, and why I had not served out my apprenticeship. My answers proving satisfactory, he put a composing stick in my hand, placed some copy before me, and in an encouraging way remarked that he would see what I could do. When he returned two or three hours afterwards, he read over the matter that I had been "settingup," and remarked kindly that I could go with the other boys to supper. I was therefore at work in the office and domiciled in the house of a gentleman (William Williams) who became and ever remained my warm friend, and for whose memory I cherish a grateful remembrance.

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Tombstone of the Cutler children, Charlestown, Massachusettes, 1680.

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Tombstone of the Langley children, Newport, Rhode Island, 1778.

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Obstetrical Instruments, 1786.

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Plan of the Orphan House, Georgia, 1741.

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2. New York City journeymen printers complain of competition of "half-way journeymen," 1811

Circular of the New York Typographical Society, July 13, 1811, in New York State Department of Labor, Annual Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1911 (Albany, 1912), pp. 67-69.

In this circular the New York Typographical Society is attempting to regulate apprenticeships.

To the Master Printers of the City of New York:

Gentlemen: - Viewing with deep concern the improper practices in many of the printing offices in this city the journeymen composing the New York Typographical Society have ap- pointed the undersigned a committee to address you on the subject and represent the many evil effects they have on the art of printing in general and the demoralizing effects on the professors.

The practice of employing what is usually styled "half-way journeymen" in preference to those who have served their time, while it holds encouragement to boys to elope from their master as soon as they acquire sufficient knowledge of the art to be enabled to earn their bread, is a great grievance to the journeymen and almost certain ruin to the boys themselves. Becoming masters of their own conduct at a period of life when they are incapable of governing their passions and propensities they plunge headlong into every species of dissipation and are often debilitated by debauchery before they arrive at the age of manhood; and it also tends to an unnecessary multiplication of apprentices, inasmuch as the place of every boy who elopes from his master is usually supplied by another, while at the same time the runaway supplies after a manner the place of…a regular journeyman and one who probably has a family dependent on his labor for support.

To render an art respectable it is indispensably necessary that professors should be perfect masters of their calling, which can only be acquired by serving a proper apprenticeship. And in our art it is not always true that time will perfect the printer. Regard should always be paid to the capacity and requirements of a boy before he should be suffered to learn the art of printing; for it is too often the case that boys of little or no education are taken as apprentices, which the first services as devil frequently preclude the knowledge of, until they are bound, when the discovery is too late to be remedied. Owing to this deficiency they make the sorry printers; whereas, had they learned

some trade which does not particularly require a good education they might have been perfect masters of it and better able to gain a livelihood.

These are the evils, gentlemen, which we sorely feel, and which it is in your power to remedy, and we sincerely hope that this appeal to your justice and your humanity may meet with that consideration which its importance demands.

3. Horace Greeley's experience, 1826 James Parton, The Life of Horace Greeley (Boston, 1872), pp. 49-55.

…"Are you the man that carries on the printing office?"

Mr. Bliss then turned, and resting upon his hoe, surveyed the person who had thus addressed him.. He saw standing before him a boy apparently about fifteen years of age, of a light, tall, and slender form, dressed in the plain, farmer's cloth of the time, his garments cut with an utter disregard of elegance and fit. His trowsers were exceedingly short and voluminous; he wore no stockings; his shoes were of the kind denominated "high-lows," and much worn down; his hat was of felt, "one of the old stamp, with so small a brim, that it looked more like a two-quart measure inverted than anything else"; and it was worn far back on his head; his hair was white, with a tinge of orange at its extremities, and it lay thinly upon a broad forehead and over a head "rocking on shoulders which seemed too slender to support the weight of a member so disproportioned to the general outline." The general effect of the figure and its costume was so outre, they presented such a combination of the rustic and ludicrous, and the apparition had come upon him so suddenly, that the amiable gardener could scarcely keep from laughing.

He restrained himself, however, and replied, "Yes, I'm the man."

Whereupon the stranger asked, "Don't you want a boy to learn the trade?"

"Well," said Mr. Bliss, "we have been thinking of it. Do you want to learn to print?"

"I've had some notion of it," said the boy in true Yankee fashion, as though he had not been dreaming about it, and longing for it for years.

Mr. Bliss was both astonished and puzzled - astonished that such a fellow as the boy looked to be, should have ever thought of learning to print, and puzzled how to convey to him an idea of the absurdity of the notion. So, with an expression in his countenance, such as that of a tender-hearted dry-goods merchant might be supposed to assume if a hod-carrier should apply for a place in the lace department, he said, "Well, my boy-but, you know, it takes considerable learning to be a printer. Have you been to school much?"

"No," said the boy, "I haven't had much chance at school. I've read some."

"What have you read?" asked Mr. Bliss.

"Well, I've read some history, and some travels, and a little of most everything."

"Where do you live?"

"At Westhaven."

"How did you come over?"

"I came on foot."

"What's your name?"

"Horace Greeley."

Now it happened that Mr. Amos Bliss had been for the last three years an Inspector of Common Schools, and in fulfilling the duties of his office - examining and licensing teachers - he had acquired an uncommon facility in asking questions, and a fondness for that exercise which men generally entertain for any employment in which they suppose themselves to excel. The youth before him was - in the language "of medical students - a "fresh subject," and the Inspector proceeded to try all his skill upon him, advancing from easy questions to hard ones, up to those knotty problems with which he had been wont to "stump" candidates for the office of teacher. The boy was a match for him…In Mr. Bliss's own account of the interview, he says, "On entering into conversation, and a partial examination of the qualifications of my new applicant, it required but little time to discover that he possessed a mind of no common order, and an acquired intelligence far beyond his years. He had had but little opportunity at the common school, but he said "he had read some," and what he had read he well understood and remembered. In addition to the ripe intelligence manifested in one so young, and whose instruction had been so limited, there was a single-mindedness, a truthfulness and common sense in what he said, that at once commanded my regard.

After half an hour's conversation with the boy, Mr. Bliss intimated that he thought he would do, and told him to go into the printing office and talk to the foreman. Horace went to the printing-office, and there his appearance produced an effect on the tender minds of the three apprentices who were at work therein, which can be much better imagined than described, and which is most vividly remembered by the two who survive. To the foreman Horace addressed himself, regardless certainly, oblivious probably, of the stare and the remarks of the boys. The foreman, at first, was inclined to wonder that Mr. Bliss should, for one moment, think it possible that a boy got up in that style could perform the most ordinary duties of a printer's apprentice. Ten minutes' talk with him, however, effected a partial revolution in his mind in the boy's favor, and as he was greatly in want of another apprentice, he was not inclined to be over particular. He tore off a slip of proof-paper, wrote a few words upon it hastily with a pencil, and told the boy to take it to Mr. Bliss. That piece of paper was his fate. The words were: "Guess we'd better try him." Away went Horace to the garden, and presented his paper. Mr. Bliss, whose curiosity had been excited to a high pitch by the extraordinary contrast between the appearance of the boy and his real quality, now entered into a long conversation with him, questioned him respecting his history, his past employments, his parents, their circumstances, his own intentions and wishes; and the longer he talked, the more his admiration grew. The result was, that he agreed to accept Horace as an apprentice, provided his father would agree to the usual terms; and then, with eager steps, and a light heart, the happy boy took the dusty road that led to his home in Westhaven.

A day or two after, Horace packed up his wardrobe in a small cotton handkerchief. Small as it was, it would have held more; for its proprietor never had more than two shirts, and one change of outer-clothing, at the same time, till he was of age. Father and son walked, side by side, to Poultney, the boy carrying his possessions upon a stick over his shoulder.

At Poultney, an unexpected difficulty arose, which for a time made Horace tremble in his high-low shoes. The terms proposed by Mr. Bliss were, that the boy should be bound for five years, and receive his board and twenty dollars a year. Now, Mr. Greeley had ideas of his own on the subject of apprenticeship, and he objected to this proposal, and to every particular of it. In the first place, he had determined that no child of his should ever be bound at all. In the second place, he thought five years an unreasonable time; thirdly, he considered that twenty dollars a year and board was a compensation ridiculously disproportionate to the services which Horace would be required to render; and finally, on each and all of these points, he clung to his opinion with the tenacity of a Greeley. Mr. Bliss appealed to the established custom of the country; five years was the usual period; the compensation offered was the regular thing; the binding was a point essential to the employer's interest. And at every pause in the conversation, the appealing voice of Horace was heard: "Father, I guess you'd better make a bargain with Mr. Bliss"; or, "Father, I guess it won't make much difference"; or, "Don't you think you'd better do it, father?" At one moment the boy was reduced to despair. Mr. Bliss had given it as his ultimatum that the proposed binding was absolutely indispensable; he "could do business in no other way." "Well, then, Horace," said the father, "let us go home." The father turned to go; but Horace lingered; he could not give it up; and so the father turned again; the negotiation was re-opened, and after a prolonged discussion, a compromise was effected. What the terms were, that were finally agreed to, I cannot positively state, for the three memories which I have consulted upon the subject give three different replies. Probably, however, they were - no binding, and no money for six months; then the boy could, if he chose, bind himself for the remainder of the five years, at forty dollars a year, the apprentice to be boarded from the beginning. And so the father went home, and the son went straight to the printing office and took his first lesson in the art of setting type.

The new apprentice took his place at the font, and received from the foreman his "copy," composing stick, and a few words of instruction, and then he addressed himself to his task. He needed no further assistance. The mysteries of the craft he seemed to comprehend intuitively. He had thought of his chosen vocation for many years; he had formed a notion how the types must be arranged in order to produce the desired impression, and, therefore, all he had to acquire was manual dexterity. In perfect silence, without looking to the right hand or to the left, heedless of the sayings and doings of the other apprentices, though they were bent on mischief, and tried to attract and distract his attention. Horace worked on, hour after hour, all that day; and when he left the office at night could set type better and faster than many an apprentice who had had a month's practice. The next day, he worked with the same silence and intensity. The boys were puzzled. They thought it absolutely incumbent on them to perform an initiating rite of some kind; but the new boy gave them no handle, no excuse, no opening. He committed no greenness, he spoke to no one, looked at no one, seemed utterly oblivious of everything save only his copy and his type. They threw type at him, but he never looked around. They talked saucily at him, but he threw back no retort. This would never do. Towards the close of the third day, the oldest apprentices took one of the large black balls with which printers used to dab the ink upon the type, and remarking that in his opinion Horace's hair was of too light a hue for so black an art as that which he had undertaken to learn, applied the ball, well inked, to Horace's head, making four distinct dabs. The boys, the journeyman, the pressman and the editor, all paused in their work to observe the result of this experiment. Horace neither spoke nor moved. He went on with his work as though nothing had happened, and soon after went to the tavern where he boarded, and spent an hour in purifying his dishonored locks. And that was all the "fun" the boys "got out" of their new companion on that occasion. They were conquered. In a few days the victor and the vanquished were excellent friends.

Horace was now fortunately situated. Ampler means of acquiring knowledge were within his reach than he had ever before enjoyed; nor were there wanting opportunities for the display of his acquisitions and the exercise of his powers.

A boy ships before the mast, 1817 [2a]

Robert Bennett Forbes, Personal Reminiscences (Boston, 1878), pp. 30-52.

Robert Forbes (1804-1889) went to sea in 1817 when thirteen years old. By the age of twenty he was master of one of the ships owned by his uncles, James and Thomas H. Perkins. Forbes subsequently became a China trader and shipowner.

I must now go back, and allude to the reasons for my going to sea before the mast. I confess to having often left my legitimate business on Foster's Wharf, where my uncles fitted out their ships; I Was very fond of going aloft, skylarking, and of pulling an oar, and sailing. My cousin, James Perkins, residing at Pine Bank on Jamaica Pond, had often instructed me in his sailboat in the mysteries of luffing, bearing away, beating to windward, &c.; and my experiences at sea in the "Midas," the "Orders in Council," the "Caroline," and the "Leda," had naturally invested me with a maritime prestige; and sometimes my uncle T. H. Perkins would remark at table, when supplying me with pudding, that I should not get any so good off the Cape of Good Hope. I thus became familiar with the idea that I was born to eat bad puddings off the Cape. I had no real proclivities for the sea; I was not particularly robust or courageous, and but for the casual remarks of my uncle, to whom I looked up as to the highest known authority, I should have been content to stick to the counting-room of my cousins, in the line of promotion. My brother Thomas was in the office of my uncles, and I fully realized that his superiority in age and acquirements gave him the start of me.

In the early part of October, 1817, I was one day on my usual visit to the ships, when my uncle came on board; and, seeing me actively employed, said, "Well, Ben, which of these ships do you intend to go in?" What more could be said to a boy of thirteen, who had already had so many hints as to the Cape and bad puddings! I answered, "I am ready to go on this one" (the "Canton Packet."). My uncle gave his assent, and told me to go home and see my mother. I did so, and found her much overcome at the idea; but when she saw that I had made up my mind to conform to the destiny imposed upon me by fate and my revered uncle, she gave her consent. I cut short my connection with oats and shorts, collecting wharfage bills, catching rats, and copying letters in a very bad hand, and took orders from my uncle to go to Gedney King, and get a quadrant, a Bowditch's navigawr, a log book, &c.; and he detailed one of t'le older clerks named Archibald, who had bcen to sea, to go to some slop-shop, and procure for me a chest and a full outfit of sailor's clothes. I think they consisted of new, unwashed checked shirts, duck trousers much too large, socks, shoes, a pea-jacket, a tin pot, an iron spoon, and several knives, a bed filled with pig's hair, and a blanket or two. The smaller luxuries were to be drawn from home.

Preparations for my departure were made at home, - a supply of thread, needles, buttons, &c., was put into what sailors call a "ditty bag." Some well-darned socks, some well-patched clothes, a Testament from my aunt, Mrs. Abbot of Exeter, a bottle of red lavender, one of essence of peppermint, a small box of broken sugar, and a barrel of apples from that good friend and neighbor, Dr. Holbrook, completed my equipment. My mother wanted to give me a pillow and some sheets and pillow-cases, but I scorned the idea, having been told that sailors never used them, but usually slept with a stick of wood with the bark on for a pillow! My good mother, who had been at sea herself, and fully realized the dangers and temptations to which I should be exposed, felt that there could be but one more severe trial for her, and that was to put me into my grave. My uncle contributed a letter full of excellent advice, recommending me to fit myself to be a good captain, and promising to keep me in mind. Mr. William Sturgis, who had always been a warm friend of my mother, and who had much experience of the sea, took an interest in me, and gave me this advice: "Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil cut hint in two, and go between the pieces; if anyone imposes on you, tell him to whistle against a northwester, and to bottle up moonshine." The moral of the first part of these injunctions I have endeavored to keep constantly before me.

The day for our departure came, Oct. 19, 1817. I took leave of home amidst the tears of the children, and, with my mother's blessing, embarked in the "Canton Packet," Captain John King; chief mate, George W. Stetson; second mate, William Rowson; and got under way in company with the ship "Levant," Captain Charles S. Cary. I had the satisfaction of seeing the captain and mate casting up their accounts while I remained well; but this was not of long duration. We had a good run off the coast, which, however, is a mere matter of tradition, as I was soon taken deadly sea-sick; and, could I have gone back then, my nautical career would have terminated. I had no kind mother to hold my dizzy head, and no sister's kind words to cheer me; and when I went to the weather-side to transfer to Neptune what I could not retain, I was roughly told that nothing must be thrown to windward save ashes and hot water I cared little if they cast me overboard. When I was carried down to the dark steerage, and put upon my own resources, I found my trunk or chest knocking about, my bed unpacked, my tin pot flattened into a small compass. I threw myself down on the bare deck, and slept from mere exhaustion. When I awoke, the ship was tumbling about awfully. I lay smothered in onions, owing to the strings chafing off as they hung over my head. I then called upon my ill stars for sending me to sea, and sighed to be back among the oats and shorts. After a day or two of tears and lamentations, during which the captain was too much engaged to think of me, I crawled on deck, and sat me down to leeward of the main-mast in the coil of the fore-brace. Soon an order was given to square the fore-yard; and the party who let fly the lee-brace no doubt anticipated the result, for I was pitched into the lee-scuppers. I now remembered the injunctions of my mother; '.namely, whenever I felt sea-sick or faint to take a few drops of peppermint or red lavender on apiece of sugar: the natural result was that I plied the bottles to such an extent that I was nearly killed thereby. I went to the captain for relief, and he gave me some powerful pills. During the night a gale had come on, and I was obliged, by imperative calls, to go on deck; I crawled along the lee-side of the long-boat bound to the fore-channels. I returned stealthily to the steerage-hatch as naked as I was born, cold, and thoroughly exhausted. In stealing down the ladder, I met the carpenter, Johnny Heatman, coming up; he put his hand against my cold body, and fell back with an emphatic ejaculation of fear: as I found out later, he supposed I was the ghost of the steward who blew up the "Canton Packet" on election day.

During my illness, I was green enough to inform the older boys, one of whom, named Brush, had been in a man-of-war, and knew a thing or two, that I had a barrel of apples in the hold, to which they were welcome; the inevitable result was that when I came to my stomach the barrel was empty. My mother had also provided for me a small bag of hardbaked ginger-nuts, which, for safe-keeping, I had put into a bag containing my boots and shoes; I hung this at the foot of my bunk, an upper one, the lower being occupied by Brush. He very soon realized that my bag contained something besides leather, and he shifted his head forward, made a small hole in my bag, and gradually appropriated the ginger-nuts. These early lessons caused me to be less trustful of human nature, and especially of big boys who had seen service in vessels of war!

When I went into my dark quarters, unincumbered by clothes, I opened my chest, and arrayed myself in a new check shirt, a pair of long duck trousers, and went to my bunk. For several days, I lay there ill and uncared for, and when at last L came to my stomach, and went on deck, I. found myself completely tatooed like an Indian by the check shirt.

With a return of health, after two or three weeks of intense mental and bodily suffering, came an exorbitant appetite; salt beef, pork and beans, hard duff, and harder bread disappeared with wonderful fleetness. My rusty knife, my iron spoon, and battered tin pot came into constant use.

We had by this time got into the north-east trade winds, and were bowling along at the rate of seven or eight knots; a bright moon shone over us, and I remembered that I was born to higher purposes than merely keeping the bread from moulding. I asked leave to go aloft and furl a royal, and did not have to solicit the favor a second time. I had often gone above the tops, at the wharf, through the "lubbers' hole"; but now that I had become a sailor, my dignity forbade any such course. I made a desperate effort, and went up the futtock shrouds, and was glad, when fairly over the top-rim, to pause and take breath. I furled the sail, as I thought, very well; but I noticed that a man went up after me to mend the job. Night came. I had not been ordered as yet to stand my watch, but, remembering the injunctions of my uncle, I asked leave to do so, and was put into the second mate's watch, and ordered to keep a good lookout for land in the lee gangway, from eight to ten. Having some knowledge of geography, I knew there was no land near. By and by, I followed the example of my comrades by settling myself for a nap under the lee of the long-boat. At twelve o'clock I went to my sweet sleep, feeling proudly conscious that I had actually begun my career as a sailor. Four A.M. came very quickly. I heard the watch called; the moon had gone down, and a rain squall had come on. The appalling sound of three thumps on the booby-hatch, and the cry of "starboard watch, ahoy!" caused very unpleasant sensations; it appeared to me that I had not been asleep more than ten minutes. I did not like the pattering of the rain on deck, and, thinking I should not be missed, I kept still, and prepared to finish my short nap, so rudely broken. I soon heard Mr. Rowson crying down the hatchway, "You boy, Bob! where are you? If not on deck in five minutes, I shall be after you with a rope's end." At first, I made no answer, thinking that my insignificant services would not pay for a second call. I argued thus: I am very comfortable where I am, and very sleepy; the scene on deck has changed much, the moon has gone down, and the rain is pouring merrily. And I did not relish the thought of going from one extreme to the other.

But the mate reiterated something about the royal clewline and my back. Not relishing this aspect of royalty, I grunted an unwilling "Ay, ay, sir!" and went on deck, when the following dialogue occurred:-

"Well, sir, why not on deck when the watch was called?"

Answer. -"I tried keeping watch at my own request, but, not liking it, I concluded not to go up."

"You began to keep watch to please yourself, my boy, and now you must continue in order to please me."

Although I was not quite convinced of the justice of this style of reasoning, I soon became accustomed to turn out quickly, and stand my watch by sleeping on deck much of the time, or in spinning yams with my shipmates.

Of the boys, my companions in the mess, we had John Brush, who had swept up most of my apples and ginger-nuts. He had been taken in the "President" frigate, had been in Dartmoor prison, and was strongly infected by contact with hard characters. Harry Farnham was the son of a respectable silver-ware merchant of Boston. He was very smart, and disliked his position as aid to the cook, Harris; and as I was a great favorite with the sable king of the pantry, and got many tid-bits from him, there grew up a rivalry between us, of which more by and by. John Heatman must have been lost at sea; he was too careful and too tough ever to die a natural death…

On our way to China, off the Cape, we lost overboard, one dark night, a sailor named Harry Neal; he was knocked over in furling the spanker. The night was dark, and, when the alarm was given, the ship was rounded to, a boat lowered, and search made for poor Harry. Stetson and four men went to look for him at great risk, but failed to find him, and had great difficulty in regaining the ship. This accident made a great impression on me. The Sunday following, his effects were sold by auction to his shipmates, and the memory of poor Harry soon became a blank.

We arrived at Canton, March 13, 1818, by the eastern passage, and I soon became domesticated with my cousin, John P. Cushing, then at the head of the house of Perkins & Co., Canton. Here began an epoch in my life which was of great importance: a connection which led directly to fortune, and which never ended but with the life of my cousin, in April, 1861.

2a. For additional documents on boys at sea, see below, Part Three, Chap. IV, sec. C.

The way to wealth

Benjamin Franklin, Advice to a Young Tradesman (Boston, 1762), unpaged.

Remember that TIME is Money. He that can earn_ten Shillings a Day by his Labour, and goes abroad or sits idle one Half of that Day, though he spends but Six-Pence during his Diversion or Idleness, ought not to reckon that the only Expence, he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five Shillings besides.

Remember this Saying - The good Paymaster is Lord of another Man's Purse. He that

is known to pay punctually and exactly to the Time he promises, may at any Time, and on any Occasion, raise all the Money his Friends can spare. This is sometimes of great Use. After Industry and Frugality, Nothing contributes more to the Raising a young Man in the World than Punctuality and Justice in all his Dealings: Therefore never keep borrowed Money an Hour beyond the Time you promised, lest a Disappointment shuts up your Friend's Purse forever.

Be encouraged to Diligence in your Calling, and trust in Providence. Establish a Character as an honest and faithful, as well as skilful Workman, and you need not fear the Want of Employment. Industry pays Debts, while Despair increases them. Something doing, something coming. Industry is sure of Profit.

In short, the Way to Wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the Way to Market. It depends chiefly on two Words, INDUSTRY and FRUGALITY; that is, Waste neither Time nor Money, but make the best Use of both. Without Industry and Frugality nothing will do, and with them every Thing. He that gets all he can honestly, and saves all he gets (necessary Expences excepted) will certainly become RICH - If that Being who governs the World, to whom all should look for a Blessing on their honest Endeavours, doth not, in his wise Providence, otherwise determine.