Jon Kukla's message led me to look again at Demos and a couple of other books--I recall the same point being made, but about England rather than New England. Demos says a bit about the subject but not much. The institution of "service in husbandry" was widespread in early modern England, though (see Peter Laslett, The World We Have Lost, and Ann Kussmaul, Servants in Husbandry). Daniel Vickers' work on Essex County (Mass.) indicates it was uncommon there, and he has a footnote that hints Edmund Morgan's The Puritan Family might be the source of the notion Kukla recalls--a notion that Vickers says is incorrect as a description of practices in most of early New England. I don't have Morgan's book with me at the moment, so I can't check to be sure. But he apparently asserted that most or nearly all young men in colonial New England worked for a spell (during adolescence) in the households of neighbors as servants in husbandry. Whoever said it relieved some of the problems associated with parenting adolescents knew what s/he was talking about! Douglas Deal Professor of History and Director of General Education State University of New York at Oswego Oswego, NY 13126 [log in to unmask] (e-mail) (315)-341-5631 (voice mail) (315)-341-3577 (FAX) To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html