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