ABSTRACT
Formal schooling, while generally available on an elementary level, was an advantage to few servants as servants. Except for the days set aside by the society for rest, and the occasional training day, the servant had to steal time to lead a personal life. In addition to the laws, which were regularly and severely enforced in the courts, contractual restraints were placed on the apprentice, if not on other temporary servants as well. Less destructive forms of entertainment were available to the average servant, and undoubtedly more widely participated in than such dubious pursuits as fornication, excessive tippling, and violence, but unfortunately servant participation in them rests greatly on assumption. Some servants spent their leisure time more wisely in productive labor of one kind or another, perhaps in hope of buying their freedom, or shortening their years of servitude. Small wonder that servants used their leisure time ill, when its constructive use was denied them.
