Putnam patriot., 1908-12-18
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 presence Of Milton seems to brood upon the place and give ii n benediction. Wordsworth. his kindred in spirit, has immortalized the little spot in these beautiful lines:
 Il seemed to see him here Famiiarly, and in his scholars dress Rounding before me, yet q stripling
 youth,
 \ boy, no better, with his rosy cheeks Angelieal, keen eye, courageous look, And conscious step oi purity and pride. Of the several poems produced by Milton during his college course, the ..One on the Morningo of Christ's nativ- iE, |" Is the most interesting in itself aid the most truly prophetic of it's au- thor's future renown. "It k Il gift, " as Milton him self, describes Il, "l have presented to thrislfS natal day. On that very morning, at day break, il was first conceived. o
 After graduating from Cambridge, he went to live at Horton, in Bucking hampshire, where his father had taken up his residence. Here the next five years of his life were passed in delight ful seclusion. The Greek and Latin writers were his favorite companions. The classical languages were as fami- liar to him as his own, and all his fu- ture work abounds with the fruits of his classical study. The Allegro" and the "Penserosn" were written at Hor- ton, also "Comus," and that beautiful sonnet on the nightingale:
 70 nightingale. that on yon blooming
 spray
 Warblest at eve, when all the world is
 still
 Thou with fresh hope the lovers heart
 dost fill,
 While the jolly hours lead on proposi
 tious May"
 Imaginative joy and sorrow of a pc culiarly tender strain characterize each of these productions; but as yet the joy greatly predominates, and the mu- sic is full of happiest melodies, where as, later on In life, the reverse becomes too evidently true, and sadness echoes from every note of his matehless song. Certainly Miltons happiest days lay in this part of his noble and unselfish career, and the quiet village of Hortdh will always have the distinction of be ing the poets land of sunshine-the "Paradise" he too rudely and forever lost.
 Next in the order of events was Mil- ton s tour through southern Europe tn iess and the earlier part of i6Sa, This was the only extended journey he ever made. Going al first to Paris he met there the great Grotius, then known as ',the first of living Datchmen.n Let ters from Lord Scudmore, the British I Ambassador, introduced him Ia many eminent menin France, Passing thence through Genoa, Leghorn, Pisa, and other cities, he reached Florence, the birthplace of Dante, toward the close of i6'ss. He remained in the city and it's vicinity two or three months. and was henored with The famous inter view with Calico, which historians have endeavored to describe--the youth fal poet and the aged philosopher grasp ing hands under the peaceful Italian sky. From Florence Milton proceeded as far as Rome and Naples, making in each city the acquaintance of many noble and learned men. But the un- settled affairs of state in England dis. lurbed his mind. He felt ashamed to be loiteFing in foreign country when his own needed him so greatly. Ae- eordingls, he Felraeed hts steps and was back in London before the Kings struggle with scotland, known as the tirsl Bishops war, WAS over.
 During the next s~eatystive years We almost entirely lese sight of Milton