Outward Bound by Oliver Optic

One of the most singular traits observable in the character of some boys is the willingness, and even the desire, under certain circumstances, to get into trouble. A young gentleman, feeling that he has been slighted, or his merit overlooked, permits himself to fall into a mental condition in which he feels no responsibility for his conduct; in which he recklessly breaks through all regulations, places himself in an attitude of opposition to constituted authority, and seems to court the heaviest penalty which can be inflicted upon him for disobedience, impudence, and rebellion.

The fourth lieutenant of the Young America had worked himself up to this disagreeable pitch. He was not only disposed to assume an attitude of opposition to the principal, who had made the obnoxious regulation which was the immediate cause of his rebellious condition, but to all who supported his authority, or willingly submitted to it.