Something was also accomplished for negroes in the maintenance of family life. In 1700 Penn, anxious to improve their moral condition, sent to the Assembly a bill for the regulation of their marriages, but much to his grief this was defeated.[142] In the absence of such legislation they came under the law which forbade servants to marry during their servitude without the master's consent.[143] Doubtless in this matter there was much of the laxity which is inseparable from slavery, but it is said that many owners allowed their slaves to marry in accordance with inclination, except that a master would try to have his slaves marry among themselves.[144] The marriage ceremony was often performed just as in the case of white people, the records of Christ Church containing many instances.[145] The children of these unions were taught submission to their parents, who were indulged, it is said, in educating, cherishing, and chastising them.[146] Stable family life among the slaves was made possible by the conditions of slavery in Pennsylvania, there being no active interchange of negroes. When they were bought or sold families were kept together as much as possible.[147] In one matter connected with religious observances race prejudice was shown: negroes were not as a rule buried in the cemeteries of white people.[148] In some of the Friends' records and elsewhere there is definite prohibition.[149] They were often buried in their masters' orchards, or on the edge of woodlands. The Philadelphia negroes were buried in a particular place outside the city.[150] Under the kindly treatment accorded them the negroes of colonial Pennsylvania for the most part behaved fairly well. It is true that there is evidence that crime among them assumed grave proportions at times, while the records of the special courts and items in the newspapers show that there occurred murder, poisoning, arson, burglary, and rape.[151] In addition there was frequent complaint about tumultuous assembling and boisterous conduct, and there was undoubtedly much pilfering.[152] Moreover the patience of many indulgent masters was tried by the shiftless behavior and insolent bearing of their slaves.[153] Yet the graver crimes stand out in isolation rather than in mass; and it is too much to expect an entire absence of the lesser ones. The white people do not seem to have regarded their negroes as dangerous.[154] Almost never were there efforts for severe repression, and a slave insurrection seems hardly to have been thought of.[155] There are no statistics whatever on which to base an estimate, but judging from the relative frequency of notices it seems probable that crime among the negroes of Pennsylvania during the slavery period--no doubt because they were under better control--was less than at any period thereafter.