Of this class, who were a trial and a torment to the teachers of the ordinary high schools and academies, the larger proportion would have scorned to steal, or commit any wanton outrage upon the persons or property of others.  There were many high-minded, noble-hearted young men, who could not tamely submit to authority, and were prone to insubordination, and who only needed the right kind of discipline to make them earnest and faithful men and useful citizens.  There were few, if any, dunces or blockheads among them, for a life on shipboard had no attractions for such boys.  They were, almost without an exception, wide-awake, bold, daring fellows, who had a taste for stirring events; fellows who wanted to climb the Rocky Mountains, visit the North Pole, and explore the Mammoth Cave.  They were full of fun and mischief and it would have been easy at any time to get up a party among them to march the principal’s cow into the parlor of the Academy; to climb to the belfry on a winter’s night, and fill the inverted bell with water, where it would freeze solid before morning; or to convey the occupants of the hen-coop to the recitation room.

It was Mr. Lowington’s task to repress the mischief in these boys, to keep them occupied with work and play, and to develop their moral and mental capacities.  He had doubtless taken a heavy load upon himself but he felt that he was to labor for his race and his country.  At least one half of his students were too wild to attend the ordinary public or private schools, or to profit by them if admitted.  With such material, his work could not be a sinecure.  But he had a taste for it, and he gave his whole heart and soul to the performance of his duties.

When the students were gathered on board the Young America, they were mostly strangers to him, though he had communicated personally or by letter with the parents of all of them.  He had read and listened to the stories of their pranks and peccadilloes, but when they came together, he hardly knew one from another, and was not prejudiced against any individual by the terrible accounts of him related by parents, guardians, or teachers.  He purposed to give them the opportunity to select their own officers at first, in order to win a more cheerful obedience from them, and because the students knew each other better than he knew them.

After the announcement of the principal that the voting would commence on the following morning, nothing else was talked of on board.  The qualifications of various members of the school were discussed by groups of excited voters; and we must do them the justice to say that most of them considered the matter unselfishly and with a single eye to the public good.  Perhaps it is a little remarkable that not a single student, outside of the little group of wire-pullers that gathered in the steerage, thought of Shuffles for the position of captain; and the “log-rollers” were likely to have up-hill work in electing themselves to the six principal offices.  But they went to work, and labored very diligently till bed-time in carrying their point.