{{hwe|sented|consented{{ to conform to his wishes.[1] In some instances, when the apprentice was still of tender years, his master was compelled by the court to put him to school, if a schoolmaster was to be found in the parish.[2]
The class of free mechanics in Virginia was an important one in spite of its small number. As late as 1680, it is stated that a handicraftsman was regarded by the planters with the highest esteem and courted with their utmost art.[3] That the supply of free tradesmen was unequal to the demand for their services was not to be attributed to any lack of encouragement on the part of the colonial administration. All of the early Governors received instructions to promote the welfare of those engaged in the various mechanical pursuits, and to restrain any disposition on their part to abandon these pursuits with a view to producing tobacco. In 1621, Wyatt was directed to take steps to have young men trained as mechanics and to Compel them to devote themselves to their business in preference to tobacco culture.[4] Ten years later, the statute 1 James I, C. 6, which relates especially to mechanics, was declared by the General Assembly to be in force in the Colony, and at the same time, an appeal was made to the Privy Council in England to encourage
- ↑ Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, pp. 38, 42, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Records of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 202, Va. State Library.
- ↑ The following passage in support of this statement is from the Life of Thomas Hellier, p. 28: “Many who were of mean education and obscure original beggars in their native soil, have by their drudging industry since their arrival in this country attained to something of estate. The gross fancies of such cloudy-pated persons will by reason of their invincible ignorance misplace their esteem on a tailor, smith, shoemaker or the like necessary handicraftsmen, courting such a one with their utmost art and skill, when a scholar shall but be condemned and happily set at nought.”
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. I, p. 115.
