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.