618 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



with bond-servants, as if they were much the same kind of per- 

 sons, gives ns a hint at the social position of the latter. In fact, 

 the bond-servant was little better than a slave. No person was 

 allowed to employ a servant who was not possessed of a cer- 

 tificate of freedom from his last employer, or to buy from or to 

 sell to any servant any kind of article whatever, without the 

 consent of the master or mistress, under penalty of forfeiting to 

 the owner treble the value of the article bought or sold, and £10 

 of the island currency. Any servant who offered violence to his 

 or her employer was compelled to serve an additional twelve 

 months, without wages, for each offense ; and if a servant stole, 

 made away with, or wasted any of his employer's property to 

 the extent of over forty shillings, he was to serve two additional 

 years without wages. For each day of absence from work the 

 servant was to serve a week, but additional services on this 

 ground were not to exceed a total of three years. 



Any man-servant who married without the consent of his 

 employer was to serve two additional years for the offense, but 

 if a free man married a servant he was to pay the employer 

 £20 and the servant was free. If a free man had an illegitimate 

 child by a servant, he was to pay £20 to the employer, and to 

 provide for the maintenance of the servant and child, or, in de- 

 fault, was to serve the employer double the time the servant had 

 still to serve ; while if one servant had a child by another, the 

 man-servant, after serving his own time, had to serve double the 

 time the woman had to serve when the offense was committed. 



If any one knowingly entertained a servant, he was liable to 

 a fine of £5 for each day and night ; if it was done without knowl- 

 edge the fine was £1. If one servant was guilty of entertaining 

 another servant, he was to forfeit a year's service, or receive 

 thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, at the option of the party 

 injured. Any person who forged a certificate of freedom was to 

 be subjected to the punishment of the pillory, and to the loss of 

 his ears. Any servant who permitted any one to ride his mas- 

 ter's horse, or use his cart, was to serve an additional three 

 months for each offense. 



These were the clauses of the act framed for the protection 

 of the employers of bond-servants ; those designed for the pro- 

 tection of the servants were much fewer, and their purport was 

 as follows : Should a servant fall sick, he or she was to be pro- 

 vided for, under a penalty of £20 ; but if the servant's sickness 

 arose from misconduct, or from indiscretion, or if it was the yaws 

 or a broken limb, he or she was to serve double the time lost. 

 No servant was to be flogged naked without a justice's order, 

 under a penalty of £5 ; and no servant could be buried until the 

 body had been seen by a justice, constable, or tithingman, or by 



