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vogue fifty years ago under the old Maryland statutes, which applied to the District of Columbia. Apprentice In The Star of September 23, System. 1857. is a news Item which discloses a pecullar working of this method of procuring the labor of young men and boys: "Yesterday a case was tried before Justice Donn under the law of Maryland relative to the removal of servants from another state to that and vice versa. Mr. W. D. Bell had a colored boy, an apprentice. for a term of years, and being about to remove to the state of Maryland, the boy heard of it and eloped. He was taken into the employment of Mr. Hitchcock, from whose possession Mr. Bell took him and a suit was the consequence. The case was laid before Justice Goddard. who remanded the boy to Mr. Hitcheock. Bell again got possession of him. and the boy's mother being afraid he was going to be taken beyond the jurisdiction of the court asked that the security required by law should be given by Mr. Bell. hence this case. Mr. Carrington appeared for the boy and Mr. Rateliffe for the defense. Justice Donn demanded $500 security that the boy should not be removed beyond the jurisdiction of the court. which was given, and the boy placed in Mr. Bell's custody. and he had him committed to the county jail." * "Hard times" prevailed half a century ago. A money crisis was at hand. Banks were trembling and depositors were lining up before the Money tellers' windows. In The Star Crisis. of September 28, 1857, is the following editorial, under the heading "The Whirlwind Upon us:" "This morning information was telegraphed to this city that all the banks in Baltimore had suspended specle payment, creating a run upon those in this city, which forced two of them, the Patriotic Bank and Bank of Washington, to suspend for the present the payment of specie, except upon notes of the denomination of $5 and checks for small amounts. They feel themselves able to meet every obligation against them. but resort to this as a measure of self-defense. The Bank of Metropolis has. up to the time of going to press, sustained the heavy run upon it without yielding, as has also the Washington Savings Bank. The run upon Sweeny, Rittenhouse & Co. has also been promptly met. With regard to the Bank of Washington and the Patriotic Bank no fears are entertained of ultimate loss to any one through their suspension, as they are known to be abundantly able to liquidate every demand against them." Local confidence in the banks was at an unfortunately low stage just then, owing to the failure of the banking house of Pairo & Nourse a few days previous, in circumstances calculated to give rise to grave doubts as to the management. It was believed that the worst of the storm had passed the capital, but Philadelphia was suffering sorely, and the same issue of The Star contained telegrams from that city and New York, indicating a high state of excitement over the stringency. * * In this same issue of September 26 is another item which will give to housekeepers of today a line on the cost of feeding a family half a Food century ago, when the InPrices. come of the average wageearner was much less than It is now: "We have obtained from reliable sources the following list of prices of such provisions as are in general use by housekeepers in this city. They are the retail prices, best understood by housekeepers:
