Page:History of Utah.djvu/376



tionized ; the theories of gravitation, repulsion, and attraction overthrown, the motion of atoms, whether single or in mass, being ascribed to the all-pervading presence of the holy spirit. The planetary systems were to be rearranged, their number and relations modified, for in the book of Abraham it was revealed that in the centre of the universe was the great orb Kolob, the greatest of all the stars seen by that pa- triarch, revolving on its axis once in a thousand years, and around which all other suns and planets revolved in endless cycles.^

At first, however, education among the settlers was mainly of an elementary nature. There were many, even among the adults, who could not write or spell, and not a few who could not read. A parents' school was therefore established at Salt Lake City, for the heads of families and for the training of teachers, among the pupils being Brigham Young.^ Primary and other schools were opened in all the principal settlements,^" and for those who were suffi- ciently advanced, classes were organized as early as the winter of 1848-9, for the study of ancient and modern languages."

the Lamb's book of life, and the songs of the sanctified ? ' Deseret News, July 26, 1851.

•* ' I saw the stars that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones that were near it; and the Lord said unto me, These are the governing ones: and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God; I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order of that upon which thou standest. And the Lord said unto me. By the m-im and thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolution thereof, that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest.' Reynolds' Book of Abraham, 29. See also Orson Pratt's lecture on astronomy in Deseret News, Dec. 27, 1851.

' The parent school is in successful operation in the comicil-house, and schools have been built inmost of the wards. Hist. B. Young, MS., 1851, .32; Chmnisoii's The Mormons, 80; Utah Early Records, MS., 115. Lyons Collins was appointed teacher by the chancellor and board of regents.

'"Jesse W. Fox taught the first school at Manti in 1850. Utah Sketches, MS., 172. The first school at Nephi was opened in 1851. Id., 111. The best school-house in Utah county was at Palmyra; at Provo, Evan M. Greene opened a select school in the second ward. Deseret News, Dec. 11, 1852.

the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Fvench, German, Tahitian, and English languages
 * ' ' There have been a large number of schools the past winter, in which