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Page 9
CHAPTER II.
THE YOUNG AMERICA.
With Mr. Lowington, the Academy Ship, which was the name he usually
applied to the idea he had matured, and thus far carried into effect,
was not a speculation; he did not intend to see how much money could be
made by the scheme. It was an experiment in the education of rich men's
sons, for only rich men could pay for scholarships in such an expensive
institution.
The Brockway Academy was to be continued, under the management of a
board of trustees. An accomplished teacher had been selected by Mr.
Lowington, and the school, under its present administration, was in a
highly prosperous condition. Only ten of its pupils had been transferred
to the Academy Ship, for it required no little nerve on the part of
parents to send their sons to school on the broad ocean, to battle with
the elements, to endure the storms of the Atlantic, and to undergo the
hardships which tender mothers supposed to be inseparably connected with
a life on shipboard.
For six months Mr. Lowington had studied upon his plan, and it was
hardly matured when the new ship came to anchor in Brockway harbor.
During this period he had visited the principal cities of the Northern
States, those of the southern section being closed against his
operations by the war of the rebellion then raging at the height of its
fury. He had interested his friends in his bold enterprise, and boys
with, whom the experiment was to be inaugurated were gathered from all
parts of the country.
The securing of the requisite number of pupils was the first success,
and what he had regarded as the most difficult part of the enterprise.
More than half of them had been obtained before it was deemed prudent to
lay the keel of the ship. The details of the plan had been carefully
considered during the winter, and when the ship was moored at Brockway,
the organization of the school, its rules and regulations had all been
written out. The boys began to arrive about the first of March, and by
the first of April all of them, eighty-seven in number, were on board.
Mr. Lowington was naturally very anxious for the success of his
experiment, and for months he had labored with unceasing diligence in
perfecting his plan, and carrying it into operation. In this occupation
he had found the activity he needed; and he may not be blamed for
believing, all the time, that he was laboring for his country and his
race.
If it has been inferred from what has been said of Mr. Lowington, of his
domestic afflictions, and of his views on the subject of discipline,
that he was an austere, cold, and unsympathizing man, a wrong impression
has been conveyed. The boys of the Brockway Academy, when they came to
know him, loved him as much as they respected him. He was not the man
needlessly to abridge the harmless enjoyment of youth, or to repress its
innocent hilarity. He watched the sports of the students with interest
and pleasure, and encouraged them by all the means in his power. He was
fond of humor, enjoyed a harmless joke, and had a keen appreciation of
juvenile wit. He was a good companion for the boys, and when they
understood him, he was always welcome to the play-ground.
The new ship had been duly christened Young America at the launching, by
Miss Josey Martyn--a name which was rapturously applauded by the boys.
She was one hundred and eighteen feet in length, and of about four
hundred tons burden. She had been built as strong as wood, iron, and
copper could make her. For a ship, she was small, which permitted her to
be light sparred, so that her juvenile crew could handle her with the
more ease. She had a flush deck; that is, it was unbroken from stem to
stern. There was no cabin, poop, camboose, or other house on deck, and
the eye had a clean range over the whole length of her. There was a
skylight between the fore and the main mast, and another between the
main and mizzen masts, to afford light and air to the apartments below.
There were three openings in the deck by which entrance could be
obtained to the interior of the ship: the fore hatch, the main hatch,
and the companion-way, the two former being used by the crew, and the
latter by the officers.
The between-decks, which is the space included between the upper and the
lower deck, was fitted up for the accommodation of the officers and
crew. Descending by the companion-way--which in the Young America
extended athwartships--on the right, at the foot of the stairs, was the
officers' cabin, occupying the part of the ship nearest to the stern.
This apartment was twenty-eight feet long, by fifteen in breadth at the
widest part, with four state rooms on each side. The mizzen mast passed
up through the middle of it. This cabin was richly but plainly fitted
up, and was furnished well enough for a drawing-room on shore. It was
for the use of the juvenile officers of the ship, fifteen in number, who
were to hold their positions as rewards of merit. The captain had a room
to himself, while each of the other apartments was to accommodate two
officers.
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