264 ARTICLE 6.

An. Code, sec. 18. 1904, sec. 18. 1888, sec. 18. 1793, ch. 45.

18. Every indenture taken under the preceding section shall be lodged
with the register of wills of the county where the same is taken, by any
one of the trustees of the poor of said county, within thirty days after the
execution thereof, under the penalty of ten dollars for every neglect, to be
recovered by presentment in the circuit court for the county where such
child is bound, and applied to the use of said county; and the said register
shall receive and record said indenture in the same manner as indentures
taken by the orphans' court.

An. Code, sec. 19. 1904, sec. 19. 1888, sec. 19. 1793, ch. 45.

19. The trustees of the poor in any county may also, in the recess of
the orphans' court, upon information, issue their citation 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 apprenticeship 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.

An. Code, sec. 20. 1904, sec. 20. 1888, sec. 20. 1793, ch. 45. 1793, ch. 57. 1849, ch. 341.

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 indenture under the hand and seal of the father and master; and the
said indenture shall be lodged by the said master with the register of wills
of the county where such master resides, within thirty days after the exe-
cution thereof, under the penalty of ten dollars, to be recovered and applied
as the penalty mentioned in section 18 of this article; and the register shall
receive and record the said indenture.

This section does not change the period of female minority, but merely confers
a certain capacity upon females between 18 and 21. Greenwood v. Greenwood, 28
Md. 385.

An apprenticeship executed by the mother is void. Baker v. Lauterbach, 68
Md. 69.

An. Code, sec. 21. 1904, sec. 21. 1888, sec. 21. 1793, ch. 45.

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 con-
tract 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.