Ascension County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....Sharp, Harden Franklin - March 21, 1881
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Mary K. Creamer marykcreamer.00@gmail.com March 22, 2020, 11:36 pm


source: The Donaldsonville Chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current,
March 26, 1881, Image 3

Died. - SHARP. - At the residence of his brother-in-law, W. W. Buford, Port 
Barrow, Ascension parish, La., on Monday, March 21, 1881, at 4 o'clock A. 
M., Harden Franklin Sharp, aged 30 years, 10 months and 12 days, only son of 
A. B. Sharp and Mary Johnson.

Thus passed away one of whom it could be fitly said - 

None knew him but to love him,
None named him but to praise.

Cut down in the prime of earthly manhood, when life seemed most precious and 
enjoyable, when the ties that bound him to terrestrial existence were linked 
closest to his heart and were hardest to sever, he met his fate like a hero, 
and died with that spirit of unmurmuring resiguation and fortitude which is 
the greatest boon mortalman can crave to crown the last moments of his 
earthly career. His was one of those glorious endings which prompted the 
psalmist of old to exclaim,

O, death, where is thy sting?
O, grave, where is thy victory>

and the manner in which he crossed the valley of the shadow, that all of us 
must traverse, should ever be a consolation to those whose hearts are aching 
from his loss. No language would be too expressive to do justice to the 
virtues of Harden Franklin Sharp, and our weak pen pauses on the verge of 
such a task, hopeless of its full accomplishment. As son, brother, husband 
and friend, he was a model of duty, affection and truth. So gentle was his 
spirit that he could not bear to see the display of enmity even in others, 
and would go out of his way to act the part of peacemaker, not only among 
his own friends, but with strangers as well; yet, in hours of danger and 
distress no heart could be braver, no spirit stronger than his. Ih he had 
faults - and all things mortal must have - they were so completely 
overshadowed by his manifold virtues, that none of us can recall his 
imperfections.

To the dear father and mother who have parted from the idol of their 
declining years; to the three weeping sisters whose darling brother has been 
taken from them, and to the doubly-bereaved young wife, whose six brief 
months of wedded bliss have been so cruelly blasted by the loss of her 
mainstay and her refuge, and whose first sweet inspirations of motherhood 
have been clouded by the cold hand of death - to these, mere words of 
sympathy might seem idle and almost a mockery of their great grief. What 
remains, therefore, for us to do, save to drop a tear to the memory of poor 
Harden, and to trust that his sorrowing kindred will find consolation in the 
healing balms of Time and in the hope that animated his last moments and 
found expression almost with his dying breath: that he has departed to find 
the loved ones who have gone before and to await the coming of those who are 
soon to follow. - L. E. B.
 

Additional Comments:
NOTE: www.findagrave.com memorial # 208325772

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