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.