This letter was written on 18 February 1919. Mercersburg Academy headmaster, Dr. William Mann Irvine, writes
Hinman Bigelow's mother about the long list of guard and demerits he has acquired during the winter term.
February
18--1919
Mrs. Anna C. Bigelow,
Philadelphia, Pa.
My dear Mrs. Bigelow:
I herewith enclose a copy of your son's guard record for the winter term. As you will recognize, it is a pretty bad record. In truth, it is one of the worst made in our school during the present term. I have had several conferences with your son. He always promises to do better. When he goes back into the school he forgets some of his promises. Disobedience, insolence, obscene language and impertinence are certainly not complimentary to any boy's record. Your son really ought to be a leader in the school. He has the ability to make everyone respect him. At the present time with such a record the best boys of the school cannot possibly respect him. As I told him, he acts like a boy who is eight or ten years of age and who had not yet learned the lesson of self-control.
In our interview this morning your son promised not to get any more guard and I certainly hope he will keep that promise. I want you to write him a most urgent letter on receipt of this communication. You will note the fact that he has eighty hours of guard and four demerits standing against him and six demerits will automatically dismiss him from the school. He has been with us for a number of years and I feel humiliated that a boy who knows Mercersburg as he is supposed to know it should act in this way.
With kindest regards, believe me,
Most cordially yours,
William Mann Irvine
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