Putnam patriot., 1908-12-18
John Milton.

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 Three hundred years have come and gone since the sun rose on the birthday of John Milton. "Pafadise Lost, . the greatest of ali English epics, was com posed by him when he was Ill old man, poor, blind, defamed ana forsaken and yet the lines of that wonderful poem-at first sold for the paltry sum Of a few pounds steflinK-spell the meaning of literary immortality as no other tines of their kind have ever done or are ever likely to do either in England or America. To-day the civ ilized world rises to do honor to his memory; for Milton was not only n poet of grand and massive quality, but he was also a patriot firm and true, ad- Yecating Christian liberty among the English people al q time when such a course was fraught with peril. In an age of ptiestcraft, arrogance and tyran- ny, his Puritan sentiments were utter ed like n bugle call in the ears of all his countrymen. Those sentiments have gradually gained sway in the world, and now form the brightest mo nument to his memory.
 Milton's birthplace was In Bread street, London, In a modest dwelling which bore the sign of the spread eagle the badge es the Milton family-the date being Friday, Dec. 9, 1908, just six weeks after the birth of Torricelli, the Italian mathematician, whom Milton probably met In 1888 when he went to call on Galileo. whose friend and aman- uensis Totricelli had then become. Richard Milton the grandfather of the poet, was a Roman Catholic. He lived and died on his own estate, near OK ford, and here Milton's father, also named John, was reared in his parents faith; but he became a Protestant in early life, and being disinherited, he went up to London to seek his fortune. Here he adopted the profession of a serivener, doing a business which, in our day, would belong to lawyers office, and would demand liberal compensation. lie was married about the year its0o, and became the father of six children, of whom three died In childhood. of the others, Anne, the eldest, married MT. Agar for her sc- eond husband, and through this union the only iineal descendants of the Mil ton family are now living in Great Britain. The second was the poet, and the third. Christopher Milton, born in l6lb, became \ lawyer, and was finally raised to the distinction of knighthood. The stern Puritanism of John Milton the elder, whc, in his renunciation Of Catholicism, had suffered much, led him to devote his faNorite son and namesake to the Christian ministry, but he seems not 10 have been greatly offended, however, when the soa him. self chose the profession of literature instead, and il is quite sure, from cor respondence between them, which k still preserved, that no one could have been more indulgent toward a son whose early steps tn composition gave so little promise of ultimate fortune, or ever indicated the ability of earning q living. Up to the age ef thirty-twe he had scarcely put penny in his pat>e.
 But Milton's education, his good looks, and his extreme eivility, were a far greater fortune to him than goid and silver. He entered Chfist's Gel- iegc, Cambridge, in February, l6si, and completed s.s course of study in July, ltsi2, whea he MAS awarded The degree af Master of Arts. The rooms at college, where he was quietly dotnicil- ed during these years, are still pointed out to the curious visitor. They are