AST. 4.] CITY OF BALTIMORE. 841

the Friendless," instead of sending to the alms-house, female
children who are destitute or suffering for want of support, or
who may be found begging about the streets of the city, or who
are children of beggars.

923. The children thus committed to the care of said corpo-
ration shall remain under the care of the corporation, and of the
managers thereof, and shall be obedient to the rules, regulation
and discipline as apprentices, and be subject to all laws concern-
ing the duties and liabilities of apprentices.

924. The " Home of the Friendless," and the managers thereof,
may retain the said children under their care until they shall be
eighteen years of age, or any shorter period, and may bind them
out for a time, not to exceed the age of eighteen years, as appren-
tices to learn »ay trade or business, or to learn to be useful in
housewifery, or may, under terms proper in the view of the said
managers and to be by them stipulated, place them for adoption
or as inmates with any families or persons; and the said corpo-
ration in the exercise of any of the powers vested in them in this
section of binding or placing out said children, shall not be limited
to places within this State.

925. All instruments binding or placing out said children shall
be in writing signed by the president and at least two managers
of said corporation, and by the persons taking the. children as
apprentices or otherwise, and shall be acknowledged by the per-
sons signing the same before a justice of the peace for Baltimore
city, and within six months from the date thereof recorded in the
office of the .Register of Wills of said city.

926. If any parent or guardian, or any judge of the Orphans'
Court of Baltimore city, or any justice of the peace for said city,
shall place under the care and control of the "Home of the
Friendless" any female child under the age of eighteen years, of
the description of children hereinbefore mentioned, or as suffering
through the extreme indigence or vagrancy or bad habits or
neglect; of parents, or as being illegitimate or children of persons
out of this State, without sufficient sustenance, the said corpo-
ration and the managers thereof shall hold and control such
children, with power to bind or place them out as hereinbefore
provided.