Did Mary Baker Eddy ever touch a lion?

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We are sometimes asked about an experience in which Mary Baker Eddy is said to have visited a circus and interacted with a caged lion. Is the account true?

Looking through The Mary Baker Eddy Library’s collections, our research staff came across two such references. One was in the reminiscence of William Bradford Turner, a Christian Science practitioner who served on The Mother Church’s Bible Lesson Committee alongside five other Christian Scientists, including Eddy’s student Julia Bartlett. While Turner never personally met Eddy, he did hear her speak on multiple occasions.¹

In his reminiscence, Turner included the following account, which Bartlett had shared with him:

“A great circus is to exhibit in the city,” [Eddy] remarked one day quite abruptly to Miss Julia [Bartlett]. “Will you go with me?” she asked. “It is the menagerie which interests me; it is said to be exceptionally fine.”

 

In front of the lions’ cage we stopped… More quickly than I can tell it, Mrs. Eddy was under the [guard rope]; and the next moment her hand was resting on the lion’s paw near the edge of the cage directly facing her. She rested it there, looking into the face of the great majestic beast, for a moment; then, as quickly, she was under and outside the [rope] again. “Come Julia, that is all.’’²

The second account is from a reminiscence of David S. Robb, a Christian Scientist from London, Ontario, Canada. Robb lived for a period of time with Hanover P. Smith, who had previously worked in Eddy’s household. Robb included in his reminiscence an account of Eddy and a lion that Smith shared with him:

One day he (Smith) told us of his visit with Mrs. Eddy to the circus. He said, Mrs. Eddy turned to him, and asked, “Hanover, how would you like to go to the circus this afternoon?” He replied, “I would love to go.” When they reached the circus grounds she walked straight to the place where the wild animals were located. There was a great lion who had evidently not had his dinner, for he was roaring as only a lion can roar. Mrs. Eddy walked straight to the cage, stood in front of the great king of beasts. She stood quietly looking at this great monster, who would make an attempt to roar, then stop and look at Mrs. Eddy. He made two or three attempts, and then the ferocious beast disappeared, and the great lion symbolizing strength turned and looked at her, dropped down on his great forepaws, and gazed at her as a great Newfoundland dog would do. Mrs. Eddy remained quiet for some minutes, and then walked gently away without even commenting on what had happened.

Robb later wrote this:

When Hanover P. Smith was relating the visit to the circus I remembered what Mrs. Eddy said to me (during a previous meeting), “God made me prove every word of it.” Mrs. Eddy was there for a purpose. She was there to prove her statements in the little book (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures) in a practical way. Daniel felt safe in the lion’s den. Mrs. Eddy knew she had the same power that protected Daniel. I pictured the queen of humanity talking to the king of beasts in the language which both understood, the language of Love.³

In his book Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial, biographer Robert Peel wrote about this, giving his interpretation of its significance:

[The] incident as a whole seems to represent an experiment which she [Eddy] consciously related to the overcoming of animal magnetism—a demonstration to herself of the power of Spirit over brute instinct.⁴

While we unfortunately do not have any information on the circus(es) that Eddy visited, a desire to see that “menagerie” would have been well in line with her affections. Among examples of this, she was certainly fond of the animals kept on her family’s farm during her childhood, as well as the horses stabled at her homes and employed for her daily carriage rides.

For further reading on the topic, please see the article “How did Mary Baker Eddy feel about animals?”