the retrospect of the year. 13 



Auditor's Report. 



[Indorsed on the above.] 



Salem, May 16, 1896. 



Your auditor respectfully reports that he has examined 

 this day the securities herein listed and finds them to 

 aaree with the treasurer's schedule. 



The treasurer's books and accounts have i)een exam- 

 ined from the date of the last annua! meeting. The re- 

 ceipts and expenditures appear to be properly entered 

 and the books correctly kept. 



H. M. Batchelder, 



A uditor. 



The Local History Class. 



The Local History Class, — a spontaneous organization 

 of ladies anxious to inform themselves more exactly on 

 many of the interesting topics in the History of the 

 County, is now well estal)lished and enters upon its fourth 

 year. Its system is unique and might be adopted with 

 advantage in other bodies. Subjects are assigned to indi- 

 viduals or to small committees, and a written report is 

 made, which puts the whole class in possession of all the 

 information gathered by the investigating party. This is 

 at once a labor-saving and an inspiring system. The 

 work of research, which calls for time and patience, may 

 be done by a few for the benefit of the whole. The spirit 

 of emulation prompts each investigator to do her best in 

 unearthing something as worthy of attention as has yet 

 been found. So the whole field of local history isgleaned 

 afresh. And the results have already shown how much lies 

 undiscovered, waiting to be disclosed to the descendants 

 of some forgotten worthy, whose kin never until now had 



