FOLLOW UP ON STATUE

 

The statue of the young boy on “ Pill Hill “ was one of many thousands manufactured during the 1800’s. They were made of cast iron and were used primarily to tether horses while their owners took their business elsewhere. The statue depicted a young African American boy dressed in a jockey uniform whose arm extended with a ring for a rope to be attached. As the horse gave way to the automobile the statues where made of concrete and used primarily as lawn ornaments. The ring often held a lantern.

In Southie there was a third use. The Mothers there conspired to scare gullible children into believing that if they misbehaved then God would turn them into stone. I have to admit as I passed the statue on my way to the Strand Theater it scared the life out of me. However it didn’t stop me from misbehaving. My mother often chased me with her thin rolling pin with the threat to beat me to a pulp. Thank goodness I was fast enough to escape. Although I don’t believe she would have carried out her threat had she caught me----then again?

 

STATUE E.BROADWAY

 

When I was a young boy there was a section of Southie that was tagged as “ Pill Hill “ It was so called because nearly every Doctor in Southie was located there. The area was at the crest of East Broadway. My remembrance is not because of the Doctors but of a statue of a young boy situated between a narrow gap in

the buildings. He stood there facing the street.

When I asked I was told he was frozen in time by God because he threw a rock at his mother. Now as an adult I know that to be ridiculous. But at the time I believed the story. The reason being that he was so lifelike. The sculptor captured his image in such detail that he truly could have been alive at the instance of his indiscretion.

Obviously it made a great impression on me such that I still think of that statue some 80 years later. In any event when ever I got angry at my mother for making me behave I never ever thought of hurling a missile in her direction.

FREEDOM TRAIN

In the 1940’s I got my elementary education at the Bigelow School on West Fourth St. in Southie. I was taught by a cadre of dedicated teachers who were determined that I receive the best education the City of Boston could provide. In addition to the day to day classes we occasionally wandered off campus to other venues so as to broaden our education. My favorite then as now was the Museum of Fine Arts on Huntington Avenue. I was always disappointed when we were called to leave. The School did us a great favor by exposing us to what the City had to offer.

As a result I was always tuned to what might be available. In 1947 just such an event presented itself. It was announced that a train would be touring the entire country with exhibits on board such as the original notice of the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, letters signed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the original English Magna Carta etc.—over 120 documents in all. My family agreed to take me and off we went to South Station. The train was known as the “Freedom Train.” It was painted red, white and blue and guarded by a squadron of marines in Dress blue uniforms.

As a young boy of 12 I was quite impressed. We had studied about all the events of the Revolutionary War and of our Founding Fathers and here before me were some of the actual documents. It made our history classes come alive. When I went to the Bigelow I thought it was an interruption to my play time with my friends. It was only later that I realized how much the School meant to me.