El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-28
Milton An Unhappy Husband
Great Poet Is Married Three Times;
Each Marriage Brings Him SOr-
row; Ungrateful Daughters.
n HFu-,,.., - e.-
By Madison q. Petera

p OHN MILLIONS first romance was
brought about during a journey
into Oxfordshire when he became
acquainted with a strong Stuart ad-
herent-Richard Poweu, VINO on a very
small income had to support IL chill
dren. Milton proposed for the hand Of
Mary, the Oldest daughter, a silly girl
of II. He was 80 and should have
known that the cavalier surroundings
and puritanical home would be an un-
cOngenial cage for such wild bird
from the rOyalist forest.
When the customary marriage teast-
ing and excitement was ended ana
the gloom of the Puritan settled down
upon her, with the mOrOse and moody
poet her only companion, the place
became unbearable.
That Milton was great man never
entered her little head, and it is not to
be wondered at that the sprlghtIy
maiden pinned like bird in cage
during the four weeks she was under
the serious and pre-Occupled man
roof She was OVerJOyed when he al
lowed her to visit her friends for a
while. She did not return for two
years. Again and again he wrote and
sent friends to bring her back, DuL
she was Obdurate. When Milton saw
that she was determined to leave him
he wrote his fierce pamphlet, Doctrine
and Discipline in Divorce IN when ne
called for an amendment of the laws IN
relation to divorce. Few took Milton
part, as they regarded him wholly to
blame in his case.
Returns to Poet Husband.
When the Puritan arms trlumphed
and the rOyalist cause was dead, the
Powell family obtained refuge under
Millions roof. His surprise to see ms
wife come from a room lmpIorlng Ior-
giyeness on her knees is a scene which
the poet afterwards made Eve enact
before Adam Mary Powell lived seven
years after her return and became
the mother of four children She died
Milton soon became blind. With
three daughters to look after he was
in need of a wife, and in 1856 he
married Katherine WoOdcock, whom ne
loved intensely and whose death in
little more than year was severe
blow to the poet He speaks OF her
loving care and her memory Is kept
fresh by her husbands sonnet begin
Me thinks I saw my late espOused
saint"
Daughters Ill Treat Him.
His life had now become dramati-
cally sad. His three daughters be-
came undutiful, scOrned his authority
and looked upon him with contempt
The only service they rendered, Ihelr
father was in transcrl9lng d from nIs
dictation the manuscript of 'Paradlse
Lost" which was to them amusement
rather than labor, for they had many
a silly laugh over his sublime concep-
ton.
Unlocked after and poorly educated,
not only did they neglect him, but they
did combine together and counsel his
maid servant TO cheat him in her mar
ketings" They actually made away
with his boo7-e 1t was to remedy TINS
horrible state of things that Milton
consented to a third marriage. de
married Elizabeth Hinshull shreW,
whom he had never seen. When the
Duke of Buckingham called her a rose
Milton said: "I am no Judge of flow
ers, but it may be so, for I feel the
thorns daily" She not only made him
suffer, but she oppressed his children
and cheated them at his death.