6 habitual borders of the self to reach toward another human being , animal , art object , or the natural world .”
To me , it is useful to go back to the roots of “ empathy ” in the body . The ineffable effects of a walk through Mount Auburn Cemetery — its power to inspire , to calm , to stimulate , to carry our emotions to a higher plane — arise in our physical selves . We can feel something happening to us when we walk among its giant trees , as if their great branches were pulling us upward into the sky . The smells of flowers , tree bark , and soil seem to bathe us in negative ions . At the same time , the memorials and sculptures bring us earthward again , into the lives and losses of our neighbors , friends , and fellow citizens — and down into the ground itself .
People come here just for this , whatever it is . And they come in order to share it with others : their toddlers , their walking partners , their parents .
We find empathy in unlooked-for corners of the Cemetery , even in the Archives .
Some years ago , in researching figures from Boston ’ s rich theatre history who are buried at the Cemetery , I examined the Lot Card for the small triangular plot belonging to actors James and Mary Ann Vincent ( 1767 Ailanthus Path ).
Mary Ann ( 1818 – 1887 ) was born in Portland , England , and began her stage career there at the age of sixteen . At seventeen , she married James R . Vincent , also an actor ; together they moved to the United States in 1846 . Though their marriage was said to be happy , on June 10 , 1850 , “ Mr . Vincent , who had shown signs of mental aberration , met with a melancholy death .” 1 ( This is Victorian code for “ suicide .”)
Mary Ann ’ s second marriage , to John Wilson in 1853 , failed when he ran off with another actress . ( When he died in 1881 , he was not buried at Mount Auburn .).
Mrs . Vincent , as she continued to be called , hated to tour and happily settled her career at Moses Kimball ’ s Boston Museum , which despite its name was in fact a theatre . There she worked for more than three decades . She played every sort of part but she was especially brilliant in comedic roles . Actress Kate Ryan wrote of her , “ Who that remember her but recall the jolly , chubby , little figure , the bobbing curls , the inimitable trippy walk , and the gasping , pleasant voice , all suggestive of mirth and merriment .” 2
Though childless herself , Mrs . Vincent loved children and animals . When she died — she suffered a stroke on stage in September 1887 and died shortly thereafter at the age of 68 — her friends gathered funds to build a hospital in her name for the care of sick and indigent women . The Vincent Memorial Hospital has since been absorbed into Massachusetts General Hospital , but the Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology Service still bears her name .
A testimony to her empathy lies hidden in the Cemetery records and in its earth . Along with the unhappy Mr . Vincent , there is buried here a child , age 2 , named Walter McC . Gladstane . My research suggests that the child was likely the son of a fellow actress , Mrs . W . C . ( Mary ) Gladstane , who was documented as a member of the stock company in Boston in 1857 – 58 . 3 The child was carried off by scarlet fever on March 12 , 1858 , and buried two days later ; it was no doubt a great