Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn: Chapters of Poetry & Prose | Page 4

“... upon the borders of two worlds...”
The New Adam and Eve
by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1846)
In 1842 a life-sized marble memorial for 4-year old Emily
The day is near its close when these pilgrims, who derive their be-
Binney was placed in the Binney family lot at Mount
ing from no dead progenitors, reach the cemetery of Mount Auburn.
Auburn on Yarrow Path. Sculpted by Henry Dexter, “Little
With light hearts – for earth and sky now gladden each other with
Emily” was significant for several reasons: it was the first
beauty – they tread along the winding paths, among marble pillars,
life-sized marble statue carved in the U.S. by an American
mimic temples, urns, obelisks, and sarcophagi, sometimes pausing
born artist; its depiction of the young girl, as though she
to contemplate these fantasies of human growth, and sometimes to
were asleep, presented a more romantic view of death; and,
admire the flowers wherewith Nature converts decay to loveliness.
as a sentimental work, it encouraged
Can death, in the midst of his old triumphs,
visitors to contemplate the tragedy
make them sensible that they have taken up
of a life cut short. The monument
the heavy burden of mortality which a whole
was an immediate success and scores
species had thrown down? Dust kindred to
of visitors came to the Cemetery
their own has never lain in the grave. Will they
to view this fine example of com-
then recognize, and so soon, that Time and
memorative art. One of those moved
the elements have an indefeasible claim upon
by “Little Emily” was author Na-
their bodies? Not improbably they may. There
thaniel Hawthorne, who staged the
have been shadows enough, even amid the
closing scene of his short story “The
primal sunshine of their existence, to suggest
New Adam and Eve” at the monu-
the thought of the soul’s incongruity with its
ment. After exploring an uninhabited
circumstances. They have already learned that
Boston and trying to understand the
something is to be thrown aside. The idea of
city through visits to its venerable
Death is in them, or not far off. But, were they
Above: Emily Binney Monument by Henry
institutions, Hawthorne’s characters
Dexter, illustration from A Concise History of to choose a symbol for him, it would be the but-
and Guide Through Mount Auburn
arrive at Mount Auburn. It is in the
terfly soaring upward, or the bright angel beck-
presence of Dexter’s celebrated work
oning them aloft, or the child asleep, with soft
Below: Engraving of Binney Monument by
James Smillie
that Adam and Eve come to under-
dreams visible through her transparent purity.
stand death and their own mortality.
Such a Child, in whitest marble, they have
(The monument for Emily Binney
found among the monuments of Mount Auburn.
was removed, by request of the family, in the 1930s and was
“Sweetest Eve,” observes Adam, while hand in hand they contem-
replaced with a simple granite marker.)
plate this beautiful object, “yonder sun has left us, and the whole
world is fading from our sight. Let us sleep as this
lovely little figure is sleeping.
Our Father only knows whether what outward
things we have possessed to-day are to be snatched
from us forever. But should our earthly life be
leaving us with the departing light, we need not
doubt that another morn will find us somewhere
beneath the smile of God. I feel that he has im-
parted the boon of existence never to be resumed.”
“And no matter where we exist,” replies Eve, “for
we shall always be together.”
There is more online! We could only pick a few of the liter-
ary works featuring Mount Auburn to appear in the printed
magazine. Visit us online to read additional poems and short
stories celebrating Mount Auburn and its many facets.
www.mountauburn.org/sweet-auburn-winter-2013/
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