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Show Page 42 "Eventually the shareholders in the Company began to see that they held in their hands an opportunity to build a new society. So they began to send to the colony people who knew the meaning of labor, people who could build and grow. And at last we are beginning to prosper. So I thank God that many of our citizens are those hard-working indentured servants of whom you spoke. For many of them it is the only way they can see to get ahead in the world. You can be sure that if a man is willing to indenture himself, he is a man who has a great desire to better himself as well. And in doing so, he betters Virginia. And it is not always a hard life. Those with skills work at their trade. Children must be taught their letters and their numbers and sometimes a trade as well." "For how long do these indentures last?" I enquired, for the thought now crossed my mind that perhaps this was a way out of my own difficulty. "They can last anywhere from four to seven years for a grown person, more for a child." Four years! My stomach sank, forming into a hard lump of resistance. Why, I would be nineteen ere my indenture was over. In truth, that was a lifetime. Four years of laboring for someone else, dependent upon him for my food, clothing and shelter! Four years without a tuppence of my own, without |