By the discipline of the ship they were kept in good order, and compelled to perform their duties.
As in every community of men or boys, where persons of kindred tastes find each other out, the bad boys in the Young America had discovered those of like tendencies, and a bond of sympathy and association had been established among them.

They knew and were known of each other.
On the other hand, it is equally true, that there was a bond of sympathy and association among the good boys, as there is among good men.

If a good man wishes to establish a daily prayer meeting, he does not apply to the intemperate, the profane swearers, and the Sabbath breakers of his neighborhood for help; there is a magnetism among men which leads him to the right persons.

If a bad man intends to get up a mob, a raffle, or a carousal, he does not seek assistance among those who go to church every Sunday, and refrain from evil practices, either from principle or policy.

He makes no mistakes of this kind.
In every community, perhaps one fourth of the whole number are positively good, and one fourth positively bad, while the remaining two fourths are more or less good or more or less bad, floating undecided between the two poles of the moral magnet, sometimes drawn one way, and sometimes the other.
The Young America was a world in herself, and the moral composition of her people was similar to that of communities on a larger scale.