Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/48

 of her indentures. By delivering five hundred pounds of the same commodity to the parish, her master could relieve her of the chastisement, and, in return, he had a right to claim of her a service of six months, in addition to the two years prescribed by law. Katharine Higgins, of York, having borne a child out of wedlock, was ordered to receive thirty-nine lashes. To secure remission of this part of her punishment, John Page, her master, gave the vestrymen assurance that he would deliver to the parish the required amount of tobacco as a guarantee against loss in providing food and clothing for the bastard. The punishment of whipping seems to have been also remitted in case the mother and the father appeared together in church at the time the congregation was assembled, both clothed in white sheets. A bastard child remained in the service of the parish until his twenty-fourth year, being apprenticed under strict indentures.