296

LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1793.

streets and send them to the poor house there to remain till they are bound
out as apprentices.
No emigrant under the age of twenty-one, to be indented by the register
except by his parents or next of kin, or in default of relatives, then by the
orphans court, by 1817, ch. 226, sec. 4, relating to German and Swiss
redemptioners.

And place
out desti-
tute chil-
dren, &c.

SKO. 3. And be if enacted, That any one or more of the jus-
tices of the peace may take any child or children, who is or are
destitute, or suffering for want of support, or the child or chil-
dren of beggars, and place the same in the care of some proper
person or persons until the next meeting of the orphans court,
when the said child or children shall be bound out as appren-
tices by the said orphans court as aforesaid ; and in such case
it shall and may be lawful for the said orphans court to make
such an allowance as to them shall seem reasonable for the
expense incurred by supporting as aforesaid the said child or
children, and the same shall be levied on and paid by the
county to which such child or children shall belong, except the
person or persons who have had the care of such child or chil-
dren, or some other person or persons can be found who will
agree to take the said child or children as an apprentice or
apprentices as aforesaid, and pay the expense incurred as
aforesaid.

Any father
may biad
put his
child, &c.

SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That any father may bind out his
child as an apprentice, on reasonable terms for any time not
longer than till the full age of such child ; that is to say, boys
to twenty-one, and girls to sixteen years of age, and that the
terms of such apprenticeship, with the age of the apprentice,
shall be contained and expressed in an indenture, under the
hand and seal of the father and master ; and that the said
indenture shall be lodged by the said master with the register
of the orphans court of the county where such master resides,
within thirty days after the execution thereof, under the penalty
of three pounds current money, to be recovered from said mas-
ter by indictment in the county court or criminal court of said
county, and to be applied to the use and benefit of the poor of
said county; and the register of the said orphans court shall
and he is hereby obliged to receive and record the said inden-
ture, and he shall be allowed the sum of three shillings current
money for each and every indenture so recorded, to be paid by
the said master.

Trustees
may bind
out orphans
&c.

SEC. 5. And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful
for the trustees of the poor of any county in this state, or for
any three of them, to bind out any orphan or orphans, or other
poor child or children, under their care in the poor-house of
said county, to any discreet person applying for said orphan or
orphans, or poor child or children, always having a regard to