38 APPRENTICES. [ART. 6.

residue of the contract of any apprentice, the Orphans' Court,
or any two justices of the peace in the county where the
deceased master did last reside, may appoint three persons of
the same trade or occupation with the deceased master, any
two of whom shall have power to value, upon oath, the resi-
due of the contract, and the father may make his election
either to pay the widow such valuation, or the widow shall
have power to make the assignment without his consent, of
the residue of the indenture, with the approbation of the
Orphans' Court.

NEGRO APPRENTICES.

31. The several Orphans' Courts of this State, shall, upon
information being given to them, summon before them the child
of any free negro, and if it shall appear upon examination
before such court that it would be better for the habits and
comfort of such child that it should be bound as an apprentice to
some white person to learn to labor, the court shall bind such
child as an apprentice to some white person, if a male, till he is
of the age of twenty-one years, or if a female, till she is of the
age of eighteen years.

82. The Sheriff, or any constable of the county or city, shall
serve any process issued by the Orphans' Court to bring the
child of any free negro before the court, and in the service of
such process, shall arrest and carry such child before the court
on the day therein named.

33. No negro child shall be bound under this article if the
parent or parents have the means and are willing to support
such child, and keep the same employed so as to teach habits of
industry; and the parent or parents shall be summoned to be
present at such binding.

34. In binding such children, the Orphans' Court shall give
preference to those persons who may be selected by the parents,
if there be any, and if not, by the children, if the person selected
by them be approved by the court.

35. Every such indenture of apprenticeship shall state the
name and age of the child bound, and the name of the master,
and shall be recorded in the office of the Register of Wills of
said county, at the expense of the master, within one month