The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1874-08-26

and they did not fail to call on Uncle
Billy j. NJ. W.
| HARDING-At the residence of her
J father No. 70 Pratt street, on "Wednesday
| last, Miss Flora X. Harding, daughter OF
Geo. c. Harding, aged nineteen years.
A noble life, full of promise, has
gone out in shame. She loved much
/ and she suffered much. Her sorrow
full soul, released from earth burdens,
| has gone to meet its God, to lay be
1 fore Him the cruel wrongs Tor which
Earth has no redress. Poor, fond
heart! i'll starred from birth, your
tempestuous beatings are stilled. your
1 restless longings will trouble no more!
Hers was joyless childhood, warped
and distorted by relentless circum-
stances. Her womanhood is blasted
in the bud. Despite unfortunate traits
and unhappy moods, in which she
seemed to move and act as if under
some wierd spell, her underlying ma
ture was noble, generous, unselhsh,
self sacrificing, with an honest pride
which would scorn to do mean ac-
ton. The unhappy circumstances at
tending her childhood had impressed
her nature with an ineffaceablc tinge
of melancholy. She was despondent
always, rather than sanguine. Papa,
she said to me once, when a cherished
desire was thwarted, and l was en-
deayoring to console her; don't dis
tress yourself about me- My entire
life has been disappointment. Not-
withstanding the sombre tints in her
nature, she was at times almost un-
naturally vivacious. But even IN her
most cherry moments an apparent
consciousness of the falseness and
hollowness of earthly things could be
noted. Her deepest and profoundest
feeling, the one which was ever pres
ent and was never Overshadowed by
doubts. or obscured by less worthy
sentiments. was love for her unhappy
father. This love had taken root in
her infantile mind, at an age when
impressions are easily effaced, but il
grew without nurture, and seemed to
strike deeper it's roots, and grow more
luxuriant in leaf and bloom, the more
it was deprived Of light and air. Ii
survived absence, apparent neglect
hostile influences; and SO soon as she
was of age she came to the father
whose love she had never doubted.
In her religious nature she was pc
culiar. She had the profoundest ven
Grafton for Deity, and sublime con
fdence in bis business, but she hac
no sympathy with creeds. or the form!
of religion. She believed in the Law
of compensation, and having known
but little save unhappiness, she be
lieyed that the future, either on earti
or in Heaven, had recompense il
store for her. She often TESTED on thu
subject of suicide, and on one ocea
} sion, being reproved, and told tina
, God frowned upon self-murder, sh,
said Papa, l am not afraid of God.
There were few brighter intellect
than Flora's, and her future was full
of promise. She had Il remarkabl
{ felicitous command of language, an
e was exceedingly versatile. While sh
knew nothing Of politics, her famil
> iarity with reconcile subjects wa
f subtle, and in thought she was power
!. full and searching. She had determin
+. ed on literature as profession, ant
had she lived, would, have made he
e mark in the world Of letters.
n The cruelest reflection in this hou
Of bitterest agony is that her lathe
might have been less stern and NOR
|. sympathetic in his intercourse wit
her, though he could not have love
: her more. With two such natures a
, enlargement is apt to raise up an il
Il visible but impossible barrier, an
: while there may be no spoken word ,
a unkindness, the reserve is infinitel
8 more cruel and cutting than wore
. could be. The unhappy .secret-tf
= first withholding of con6dence-cau
e ed such feeling, and this was on
# broken down the night before h,
If death, when, on her fathers breas
: with her arms about his neck,
u heartbroken sobs she told him Il
e dreadful story. and pleaded for h
forgiveness, not so much tor her s.
3, as for the want Of confidence in hi1
i All was forgiven, and father ar
daughter once mere reconciled. Eve
> then she had determined Oh suicid
and that last, heartbreaking interview
l. SO sweet to remember and yet so sa
~ 4 must be invested with all the sancti
. of death bed revelation.
~ Through that long last day of su
fering | watched with her, alternate
ly cheered by hope and torn with Il
Is anguish of despair, and with the la
gasp, as the suffering soul took
{, tremulous flight, two great tears car
ID from the flmy eyes and rolled ov
o, the face, across which was stealth
n the shadow of the Death Angel 81
- has gone to her God, who will jud
'0 her, not by the iron rule which brin
D. all natures to common measuremel
n but according to her deserts. G
IN could not be God without being ju
of and with him [ leave my daught'
y, But il does seem as if he should ha
Ed some thunderbolt, rcd with unco
lis mon wrath, to strike the wretch W
or pursues his victim, with foul and We
omous tongue, into the grave itself.
:. Oh loving Observation-Disclosures,
IL Scared with suffering,-sinful .
I L u