Manuscript of the Peabody Historical Society
Letter from Mrs. James P. Baxter (Mehitabel Cummings), a member of the first graduating class-Read at the Peabody High School Reunion, 1909
 
…Much to my disappointment, the day your invitation was received I was prostrated beyond hope of participating in person. Cast down, but not destroyed, I am here today to send you my warmest greeting tinged with the regret that I must content myself with such a meager congratulation.
Should you ask me for reminiscences of my school days in the little white schoolhouse on Park Street, and what the High School did for me, I should say much, indeed it was the birthplace of the best aspirations and purposes which actuated whatever of worth has been wrought out during the following three score years of my life.
 

Our committee, without experience, did better than they knew in selecting for the first teacher Mr. Eugene B. Hinckley. He was a man fitted to foster and expand the best in his pupils; fresh from the classic halls of Bowdoin such sages were not familiar in those days upon the streets of South Danvers. He came among us with the resolution to open our eyes to broader fields of knowledge and to take a broader outlook into the future.
Indeed he was to the girls, and in the first years, we numbered seven girls to one boy, so we had things pretty much to our own liking, a living, modern Apollo – some may venture to say he stands upon that same pedestal in memory. Doubtless, we vexed him sorely, and he despaired of polishing such crude jewels; sometimes he tried us; but the memory of such experiences is so dim and far-off that we cannot discern their outlines.
 

The opening of a High School was regarded by all as a marked event, while a few of the older citizens who had received a so-called liberal education, and many others who had longed in vain for such an opportunity, took us individually to their hearts, and never failed to impress upon us the privileges of our birthright.

How often do I bring to my vision in recent years certain dear and revered women who constantly reminded us of our great responsibility and urged us to give in return our noblest efforts that we might become an honor to the town, even and anon assuring us that everybody was watching us with anxious pride. I always have maintained that this personal interest had a powerful inspiring influence and for their sakes, we did carry our heads a little higher and bore ourselves more discreetly for their constant praise, and wise but rare admonition.

I can bid you, girls and boys of the Peabody High School, no more sincere parting good-bye than that your High School days may be as happy as were mine, storing up memories of sweetness and gratitude to be enjoyed for many years to come.
 
    Yours most cordially,
 
    Mehitabel Cummings Proctor Baxter
    Portland, Maine
    April 15th, 1909