was baptized a member of LDS Church at age 10 on 15 June 1873, but due to local hostilities toward Latter-day Saints, he was baptized in secret at night. The same year he accidentally pierced his younger brother's (Albert) eye with a digging fork, blinding him. He moved with his family to Provo, Utah Territory, in 1876. In Provo, he studied the Normal Course at BYA, with Karl G. Maeser as one of his teachers; he graduated in 1879 at the age of seventeen. He became an instructor at BYA while continuing to study. In 1881, Talmage became the first graduate from the Scientific Department at BYA and the first student from BYA to receive a college degree. Further education and career Talmage's early predilection was for the sciences, and in 1882 and 1883 he took selected courses in chemistry and geology at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After graduating, he started advanced work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1883. In the spring of 1884, while at Johns Hopkins, Talmage journaled about many laboratory experiments, including one on the ingestion of hashish. After researching at Johns Hopkins, he returned to BYA and became a professor of geology and chemistry. Shortly after returning to BYA, Talmage became the counselor (chief assistant) to its principal, Maeser, and worked as acting principal during Maeser's absence. He also became a member of BYA's board of trustees, an alternate member of the Utah Stake high council and was a common speaker at youth meetings across Utah county. That same year, Talmage was elected as a People's Party candidate to the Provo City Council. His main goal in joining the city council was to implement anti-saloon legislation, but he did not succeed. Shortly before taking office as a member of the city council, Talmage had a lab accident that nearly cost him his sight. A few months later, he was elected an alderman which added judicial as well as legislative duties to his assignments. LDS College In the summer of 1888, Talmage was recruited by the church's First Presidency to lead the new Salt Lake Stake Academy in Salt Lake City, a high school for the stake, where he worked closely with Angus M. Cannon. In 1889, the Salt Lake Stake Academy was renamed LDS College and Talmage continued as its head until 1892. While in this position he was recruited widely to