The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1874-09-09
FLORA HARDING.
George G. Harding's Tribute to
His Lost Daughter.

/
! George C. Harding's Tribute to
His Lost Daughter.
On Thursday, the Goth ult, as we
have already announced in these col
umns, George C. Harding, editor of the
Indianapolis Sunday Herald, shot Sol
Moritz for seducing his daughter. Mo-
ritz will recover, but win lose an arm,
which was shattered by one of the bull
lets. Flora Harding was a brilliant ac-
complished girl, having a bright literary
future before her, but who unfortunate
ly fell a victim to the wiles of man
who professed to be her fathers bosom
friend. She confessed her sins to her
father and then took poison, her sensi-
tive soul shrinking from the sneers. of a
heartless world, which would forever
point at her the finger of scorn, and
speak of her as lost and wicked we
man. The following tribute TO the
memory of the dead was written by the
unfortunate journalist in the presence
of the dead body of his child 1t is
wall of a broken heart, crushed spirit,
which cannot fail to touch the sympa-
thetic chords in every human breast:
THE BEREAvED FATHERS FAREWELL.
indianapolis Herald, August 2sI
HARDING-At the residence Of her father, No.
90 Pratt street. on Wednesday last, Miss FLORA X.
HARDING, daughter of George C. Harding, aged
nineteen years.
\ A noble life, full of promise, has gone
out in shame She loved much and she
suffered much. Her sOrrowful soul,
released from earth-burdcns, has gone
to meet its God, to lay before Him the
cruel wrongs for which earth has no re-
dress Poor, fond heart, ilI-starred from
birth, your tcmpestuous beatings are
stilled, your restless longings will trou-
Bile no more Hers was a joylcss child
hood, warped and distorted by relent-
less circumstances. Her womanhood
is blasted in the bud. Despite unfortu-
uate traits and unhappy moods, in which
she seemed to move and act as if under
some weird spell, her underlying nature
was noble, generous, unselfish, self
sacrificing, with an honest pride which
would scOrn to do mean action. The
unhappy circumstances attending her
childhood had impressed her nature
with an ineffaceable tinge of melan
chOly. She was desponpent always,
to me once, when cherished dessre was
thwarted, and was endcavoring to con
sole her, ''don't distress youIself about
me- Ny entire life has been a disap-
pOintment" Notwithstanding the SOM
bre tintS in her nature, she was at times
almost unnatjIrally vivacious But even
in her most CHEEKY moments an apparent
consciousness of the falseness and hol-
lowness of earthly things could be noted.
Her deepest aud prOfOundest feeling,
the one which was ever present and was
never overshadOwed by doubts or OBJ
scurcd by less worthy sentiments, was
love for her unhappy father. This love
had taken root in her infantilc mind 1T
an age when Impressions are easily ef
faced, but it grew without nurture, and
seemed to strike deeper its roots and
grow more luXuriant in leaf and bloom
the more it was deprived Of light and
air. 1t survived absence, apparent neg
Iect, hostile influences, and so soon as
she was of age she came to thc father
whose love she had never doubted.
In her religious nature she was pecu-
liar She had the prOfoundest yeneTa-
tion for Deity, and a sublime confidence
in Ills Justice, but she had no sympathy
She believed i'm the law of compensation,
and having known but little save unhap-
piness, she believed that the fnture,
either on earth or in heaven; had recon-
penSe in store for her She often iested
on the subject of suicide, and one occa-
sion, being reprOved and told that God
frowned on self-mnrdcr, she said, pa
pit, I am not afraid of God"
There were few brighter intellccts
than FlOra'S. and her future was full of
promise She had remarkably feljcit-
L, =
cecdingly versatile While she knew
nothing of politics, her familiarity with
rccondite subjects was wonderful. In
reasoning she was subtle, and in thought
she was powerful and searching She
had determined on literature as a profess
sion, and had she lived would have made
her mark in the world of letters.
The cruelest reflection in this hour of
bitterest agony is that her father might
have been less stern and more sympa-
thetic in his intercourse with her. though
he could not have loved her more. With
two such natures an estrangemcnt. is apt
to raise up an invisible but impossible
barrier, and while there may be no spo-
ken word of unkindncss, the reserve is
infinitely more cruel and cutting than
words could be. The unhappy secret
| the first Withholding of confidence
caused such a feeling, and this was only
broken down the night before her death,
when, on her fathers breast, with her
arms about his neck, in heartbrOken
sobs she told him the dreadful story,
and pleaded for his forgiveness, not so
| much for her sin as for the. want of con-
/ fidence in him. All was forgiven, and
father and daughter once more recon
ciled. Even then she had determined
| on suicide, and that last, heartbreaking
Int tn
yet so sad, must be invested with all the
sanctity of deathbed revelation
Through that long last day of suffer
/ ing / watched with her, alternately
| cheered by hope and torn with the
anguish of despair, and with the lasi
gasp, as the suffering soul took its trem-
ulOus flight, two great tears came from
| the filmy eyes and rolled over the face,
across which was stealing the shadow OF
the Death Angel
She has gone to her God, who will
Judge her not by the iron rule
which brings all natures to a common
measurement, but according to her de-
serts. God could not be God without
being just, and with Him | leave my
daughter. But it does seem as If lie
should have some. thunderbolt; red Wild
uncommon wrath, to strike the wretch
who pursues his victim, with foul and
venomolls tongue, into the grave itself.
Oh, loving heart -daughter- soul
Scared with suffering sinful, yet pure
and white-farewell q. &. IL.
AT Troy hotel a young man and wo-
man from up North called for a room
just after the dinner hour and were ac-
commodated. The young man requested
that dinner be sent to his wife, and left
the hotel for few moments Mean
while waiter was sent to the lady's
-. Lii. !. LII of faro Clio tool /.