6 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



hereof untill the eighth of January one thousand, eight hundred 

 and twenty four, at which time the said apprentice if he should 

 be living will be twenty one years of age. During which time 

 or term the said apprentice his said master well and faithfully 

 shall serve, his secrets keep, and his lawful commands every- 

 where at all times readily obey, he shall do no damage to his 

 said master, nor wilfully suffer any to be done by others, and 

 if any to his knowledge be intended, he shall give his master 

 seasonable notice thereof. He shall not waste the goods of his 

 said master, nor lend them unlawfully to any ; at cards, dice or 

 any unlawful game he shall not play, fornication he shall not 

 commit, nor matrimony contract during the said term ; taverns, 

 ale-houses or places of gaming he shall not haunt or frequent; 

 from the service of his said master he shall not absent himself, 

 but in all things and at all times he shall carry himself and be- 

 have as a good and faithful Apprentice ought, during the whole 

 time or term aforesaid and the said James Parker Esq r on his 

 part doth hereby promise, covenant and agree to teach and in- 

 struct the said apprentice or cause him to be instructed in the 

 art or trade of husbandman by the best way and means he can, 

 and also to teach and instruct the said apprentice or cause him 

 to be taught and instructed to read and write and cypher to the 

 Rule of Three if said apprentice is capable to learn and shall 

 faithfully find and provide for the said apprentice good and 

 sufficient meat, drink, clothing, lodging and other necessaries 

 fit and convenient for such an apprentice during the term afore- 

 said, and at the Expiration thereof shall give unto the said ap- 

 prentice two good suits of wearing apparel, one for Lord's Day 

 and the other for working days and also Eighty Dollars in good 

 curant money of this Commonwealth at the end of said term. 

 In testimony whereof the said parties have hereunto interchange- 

 ably set their hands and seals this sixteenth day of October in 

 the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty." 



The food of our forefathers has always had a certain enchant- 

 ment. Who can read of the chicken roasting on the spit before 

 the open fire without wanting a taste; or who can listen to tales 

 of one's grandmother of the great baking of those days without 

 a feeling of longing? In hunting over dry deeds in the Court 

 House in Cambridge, I came across one which interested me very 



