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Show Page 85 19 not be passed over as a little thing." One is tempted to take the broad praise Orson receives in the newspaper as an expression of extravagant municipal pride; but later works show Orson was indeed proficient, if not brilliant, in the study of higher mathematics. That his example inspired and "transformed" many of his students made a sincere impression on his neighbor, the Mormon poet Eliza R. Snow - she dedicated to "Professor 0. Pratt" a lyric entitled "The Transformation": "I saw a thing of rudest form, From mountain's base brought forth - A useless gem - devoid of charm And wrap'd in cumbrous earth... That gem was chained in crudeness, till The Sculptor lent his aid; I wondered at the ready skill His potent hand displayed. But 'twas the virtue of his tool, Of fine, transforming edge; Which served for pencil mould and rule - For polisher and sledge." 20 Orson was the least formally educated of his colleagues, for he had gained most of his mathematical training studying rain-warped books on the roads and oceans of his missionary work. Orson's fellow laborers in the University included Sidney Rigdon, who taught religion and "Belles Lettres," and Orson Spencer, a young and earnest convert who held a degree in the Arts from Union College and a second degree in divinity from the Baptist Literary and Theological Seminary, both in New York. Spencer one of the best-educated men in the Church, was a gentlemanly and consistent 21 friend to Orson Pratt. The University also took responsibility for the maintenance of common schools in the four wards of the city, and it is likely that Orson taught some of the town's children. Eventually this one-man math and science department also offered lessons in reading, writing, geography, grammar and navigation - advertising a ten dollar charge for the math, five AniXara fnr the. snrvpvini>. and three dollars for the "liberal arts" |