ART. 6.] APPRENTICES. 35

tion to the sheriff, or any constable of the county, to cause to be
brought before them the child or children of any pauper or
vagrant, and bind them out as apprentices for the time and upon
the terms hereinbefore prescribed; Provided, the contract of ap-
prenticeship shall, within two months thereafter, be approved by
the said Orphans' Court by endorsement thereon as aforesaid,
and recorded among the records of the said Orphans' Court.

20. Any father may bind out his child as an apprentice on
reasonable terms, for any time not longer than the full age of
such child—that is to say, boys till twenty-one, and girls till
eighteen years of age; and the terms of such apprenticeship,
with the age of the apprentice, shall be contained in an inden-
ture under the hand and seal of the father and master; and the
said indenture shall be lodged by the said master with the Re-
gister of Wills of the county where such master resides, within
thirty days after the execution thereof, under the penalty of ten
dollars, to be recovered and applied as the penalty mentioned in
the eighteenth section of this article; and the register shall
receive and record the said indenture.

21. Any manufacturer or mechanic may take as an apprentice
any male child, until he shall arrive at the age of twenty-one
years; Provided, that the contract so made shall specify the age
of the child at the time of making the same, and that the parent
or parents of such child, (if living,) or if an orphan, the Orphans'
Court of such county as the child shall reside in, shall see the
contract within two months after its execution, and notify its
approbation thereof by an endorsement on the same; and that
the said contract be then recorded among the records of the
Orphans' Court; and when so recorded, the said contract shall
be of the same validity as if the same had been originally made
with the father of said child or with the Orphans' Court.

22. The directors of the Maryland Penitentiary, or any three
of them, may bind as apprentices the free male convicts whose
times of service in that institution shall expire before they are
of age; and may also bind as an apprentice until the ago of
eighteen years, any free female convict whose term of service
shall have ended before she has attained that age. They may
also bind as apprentices, until the age of twenty-one for males, and
eighteen for females, the children of female convicts brought into
the penitentiary with their mothers, or born therein during their
time of service; and the manager of the House of Refuge shall