The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the ChildChrisman, Oscar
History
The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the Child
Chrisman, Oscar
Children; Manners and customs
It was held, at least in England, that all able-bodied men should work
and to that end they should be trained as boys, so that when grown up
they would be able to work at a trade or farming and thereby earn their
own living and not become a burden upon the state. During the sixteenth
century it became a law that every child should have such training as
would fit him for business or a calling. Some were apprenticed to trades
and some to agriculture. If a parent could prove that he was able to
furnish a maintenance for his children they were not apprenticed, but
otherwise, if the children were found to be growing up in idleness, the
authorities had the power to apprentice them.
There was a fee charged for apprenticeship to a trade, sometimes only an
entrance fee and again an annual due, but not very large in either case.
The term of service varied, in France being from three to thirteen
years, while in England it generally lasted seven years. The apprentice
probably secured no pay at any time, but was cared for by the master in
the way of food, lodging, clothing, and other needs. After he had
completed his years of service, the apprentice became a journeyman and
then entered regularly into the trade, receiving wages for his labor. In
the earlier times the journeyman could easily become a master, but later
when capital began to be amassed and the carrying on of the manufacture
of goods required much capital, the journeyman did not have very good
opportunity for becoming a master. In the early days master, journeyman,
and apprentice all lived and worked together and were in the same guild,
and so there was not any great separation among them. But later when a
large amount of capital was required to carry on business and a large
number of men used, there became a wide difference between master and
workmen and strife grew up between them and journeymen formed guilds for
themselves alone, which guilds were sometimes suppressed by the
authorities. Such a guild came in time to prohibit aliens from becoming
apprentices, and thus from learning the trade, and even to restricting
apprenticeship to the children and relatives of its members who were
working in the trade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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