sweet auburn | 2024 volume i
Opposite page , top : Monument to the Atkins Children : Mary ( 1848-1849 ), Willie ( 1847-1849 ), and Charlie ( 1853-1856 ) ( 2339 Lime Avenue ) Opposite page , bottom : Photo of Mary Ann Vincent ( 1818-1887 ) from Old Boston Museum Days by Kate Ryan , Little Brown , 1915 , p . 132 Left : Monument to actors James and Mary Ann Vincent ( 1767 Ailanthus Path ). greater WELCOME
kindness on Mrs . Vincent ’ s part to provide a grave for her colleague ’ s little child . And we would know nothing of this evidence of empathy if not for the careful records kept by the Cemetery .
I saw our empathic community powerfully evinced after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 . In that tragedy ’ s terrifying aftermath , violence erupted in streets near to the Cemetery in Watertown . Some of our neighbors had to shelter in their bathtubs so as not to be hit by stray gunfire ; others came home to find bullet holes in their bedroom walls . The community ’ s sense of safety lay in ruins .
In the days and weeks afterward , many of these neighbors drifted into the Cemetery and into the Visitor Center where I worked . They came with their kids in strollers or their mothers on their arms , just to walk among the trees and sometimes to talk about what had happened . It was abundantly clear that the Cemetery was helping them to heal and to reestablish a sense of peace .
As Artist-in-Residence Carolyn Oliver put it in a recent interview for the Mount Auburn website , “ After the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013 , we were among the residents who were ordered to shelter in place during the search for the suspects . When that terrifying experience ended , Mount Auburn was the first place we wanted to visit . For us it ’ s been a place of beauty and peace , almost a sanctuary .”
How would one begin to quantify the Cemetery ’ s healing embrace and its value to the community ? In cases like this , it may be better to take a qualitative approach . Look upon the lost children of the Atkins family , clinging to one another as they gaze heavenward in their marble assemblage ( Lot 2339 Lime Avenue ), and know what it is to love and be loved .
1 Augustin Daly , Fiftieth anniversary of the first appearance on the stage of Mrs . J . R . Vincent Boston ’ s favorite actress , April 1835 – April 1885 ( Boston : Robinson & Stephenson , 1885 ). 2 Kate Ryan , Old Boston Museum Days ( Boston : Little , Brown , 1915 ), 44 , 46 . 3 Charles H . Pattee , Letter to the Editor , National Magazine , vol . 1 ( 1894 ), 327 .
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