The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts, is one of those places with an impressive Mission Statement: "Dedicated to creating innovative models for society that empower individuals on the paths of nonviolence, peacemaking, and cruelty-free living." Now, aside from statues of Gandhi and Mother Teresa, the Abbey has one of Emily the Cow. Emily found a home at the Abbey after escaping from a slaughterhouse in November 1995. She became a kind of bovine celebrity, employed to promote vegetarianism, until she died (of cancer) in the winter of 2004. Now a life-size bronze statue -- dedicated on Earth Day -- stands over her grave, her alert gaze perhaps on the lookout for hungry-eyed visitors with barbecue sauce stains. 2 N Main St., Sherborn. [05/08/2005]

November 26, 2009