CHAPTER III.
THE ENSIGN AT THE PEAK.
The students on board of the Young America were between the ages of fourteen and seventeen.

By the regulations, no boy under fourteen or over seventeen could be admitted, and they averaged about fifteen.

They had, therefore, reached the years of discretion.

Among them were a great many who were disposed to be wild boys, and not a few who had found it difficult to remain in similar institutions on shore.

They were not criminal or depraved, but simply wild; with a tendency to break through reasonable restraint; with a taste for mad pranks, and a contempt for authority.
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.