The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, February 19, 1914, Page 3, Image 3
"MY PATH LEAD
THEN TO
*
Career of Famous Virgi
Too Late the Folly of
tates Statement Thr
Washington, Feb. 7.?It is only i
few days ago that Florence Schenck
the gay, willful Virginia beauty,
whose escapades made her notorious
^- in two worlds, died the day after sh<
arrived at her old home.
fhrno dnvc hefnre her death sh<
dictated the article that appears 01
this page. Florence Schenck though
that she had at least a year to live
and she had determined to devot<
?very working hour to warning othei
girls of the path she had taken?th?
gay primrose path, whose end is th<
annamed grave of the potter's field
This article was to have been he
first move in her fight.
The lesson she would have taugh
in it has been vised by death, and i
"is more important now perhaps thai
it would have been with its write!
still alive.
Miss Schenck, it will be remem
bered, was the daughter of Dr. Pow
hatan Schenck, a retired surgeon o
the United States army and membe:
of one of the "first families of Vir
ginia." She ran away with Charle;
Wilson, a whip in the Alfred Vander
bilt stables. She had tired of th<
humdrum, respectable life in a mod
?^^ * -? fVio cooriArt tnwn r?f Vnr
CBL UUlliC 111 LUt v fcv .. u v?. - -
folk, Va. She wanted to see th<
world. She saw it. And what she
saw and experienced killed her.
She led the gayest of lives in Nev
York, in London, in Berlin.
Here follows her story, her warn
ing to other girls, who may tempt
ed to tread the path she. trod.
"Beware the Path. I Trod."
When my father in answer to m>
pleadings, came to see me in my lit
^' tie room at the hospital, I could no
see him through my tears. I coulc
not speak for the^sob in my throat
I clung to his~hand, thinking: "Pooi
father! He has seen many a ship
wreck down home, but never oni
more terrible than this of his daugh
ter's life." I stared, up into his face
that was very stern and sad.
whispered, "Kiss me. father."
Then my lovely sister Ann came ir
and kissed me and cried. She weni
out of the room and two doctor:
came in and they and father lookec
at my bruised side and the purple
"gash where the surgeons had made
an incision, and all of them lookec
very grave. Afterward I looked uj:
at father and he shook his head.
"You cannot live long, my aaugn
ter," he said.* "At best it will be bui
a short time. If you seem to recovej
it will only mean that your short lift
$ill be that of an invalid. You hav<
repented, have you not? Then spenc
whatever time is left to you in warn
ing other girls against the path yoi
have followed."
"The path that leads to the morgue
and then to potter's field," I thought
With my hand in his and our tear?
mingling I promised. And this is the
+* way I shall do it.
jt I shall grow a little better. Tha1
they all expect for me. Knowine
that it will only be a short time anc
that inevitably I shall grow worst
and then the end will be very near
that time of being a little better wil
be my golden time. It is then tha
4 I will carry out my plan.
I shall not go back to my old home
at Norfolk. That would be too se
> vere a cross for my proud family
though they have not refused m<
shelter. But I shall leave New York
whose other name is temptation fo:
girls who have not great talents o
the greatest talent of all, which is the
ov^5ii+,r frv resist the lure of idlenes:
aumvj w *
and gayety. Even now with th<
shadow of death upon me I fear it
for its fingers, though wreathed ii
flowers, are strong and cruel.
k Ro<le in Private Car.
I should like to go to a small city
for instance, Richmond, and ther
live quietly and either lecture fron
the platform or with my pen, unti
_ the end comes. Always my sermoi
will he "The wages of sin is death.'
and always i will address myself t1
girls, weak, pleasure-loving girls
* who know not what they say whei
they utter those ominous words, "
want to see the world."
f Seven years ago I slipped out of ni
quiet home on the outskirts of Xor
folk and came to New York in Alfre<
Vanderbilt's private car, the Way
> farer. The name of the car was a;
omen. But I did not know it ther
It was the most luxuriant sight I ha
ever seen, with velvet draperies an
the scent of sandalwood and of fin
cigars and of old wines hangin
about it. People who boarded tn
car and got off again were people wh
> belonged to the smiling world, wher
there is no fear mingled with th
thought of paying next month's bills
I had forsaken the work world wher
I had been a stenographer, workin
in the fair grounds at the James tow
r
>S TO MORGUE 2
POTTER'S FIELD" S
ai
???? cc
W;
nia Beauty Who Realized th
Her Course?She Die- "
ee Days Before Death. m
h<
" di
t' exposition at $7 a week and had entered
the play world, where I had
nothing to do but look pretty and te
5 be gay spirited. b
? This alone would not have seemed w:
justification to me for leaving my in
a i home. But I had at my elbow and w
i figuratively at my feet a man with W
i. ! Ti'hAm T woo infofPhoc WiloAn I h(
^ < n JJ.VU1 X TT UO IlllUtUULVU, VllUOt I ? iiOVU ,
! I had met at the Horse Show, while 1?
t j
a i I was admiring the Vanderbilt horses.
r 11 saw that he admired me and I was
a! flattered. When he began to make di
? i love to me I believed him. Wrhen I ,e
. 1 got aboard the Wayfarer, I believed ef
r: that he would marry me when we w
| reached New York. T1
11 Instead he took me to his home at o1
t! Newport where a eweet-faced, gray- m
i; haired woman greeted me kindly and dl
rI called him Charlie. When I asked tlh
him who she was, he said: "Don't V:
. make a fuss about it. She's my w
-1 wife!" w
f; I left her home in Newport and
rlcame to New York. He followed me hi
.! here. I threatened to go home and se
31 tell my father everything. ai
"You'll not stay long," he sneered, hi
*! "They'll kick, you out. Do you sup- SP
- \ pose an F. F. V. will have such a girl
- as you now are under its roof?" V2
3 i Although he spoke in anger. I -ot
3 knew he told the truth. I had al- T
. J J 3 1 J ? U ? _ 11T
ways aaznireu axiu iuveu m v lamn,
; I but I knew him as lie was, a proud, hi
I stern man with little sympathy for
-: the weaknesses of human nature. I ?
- had been very weak and foolish, fa
That I loved this man' who had hi
j strewn my path with wreckage when fr
, j I was only 17 years old would be lit- ar
- tie excuse to him. Southerners are ti<
t i hot-headed as well as high-spirited, to
i I If I told father the truth he might hi
. j follow Charles Wilson and kill him. in
r! Before that thought I quailed. Often hj
-' a woman's heart is traitor to her own in
3 j best interests. I remained in New hs
.; York. Wilson told me he would di- eh
; vorce his wife and marry me.
r '
1 Waiting is Dangerous.
I tried to believe him and I waited. __
1 i
I hoped and prayed for the time co
; when, rehabilitated, as his wife, I gp
* could pay a visit to mv home. But te
waiting is a dangerous pastime in
' i New York. Especially if you are
* W
'' young and beautiful. w.
If I went out for a walk my ap)'
: pearance attracted attention. I was CQ
nln.n,./, Ar fnllnU'O'l
<11 V> a > S aV/l/WSlcU) Ul una ivnv< I vy>
^: home by some man, usually one with th
# cruel eyes and a predatory mouth. ^
' | Often I reached home just in time to
' slam the door in his face. If I dared
| j to go to a play in the afternoon, it
j was the same. th
i I was very lonely, Charles Wil- I
; son's travels with the Vanderbilts'
! horses and his care for them at the m
;
stables in New York and Newport ic;
] | kept him busy. I saw him seldom, ki
' and then for only a short time. If T1
': you are very clever, you can amuse at
. j yourself. You can study and read, nc
Your thoughts are excellent compan|
j ions. But if you are only pretty and cli
; dependent, the hours you are alone M
are hours of torture. he
11 I have heard a girl like me say: gi
^ "People have different ideas of hades, le
Mine is just being alone."
i When you are alone, if you are w
^ i
such a girl. thoughts assail you. You n<
see yourself deserted, starving, dy- ki
I! ing and alone. You think of a way n(
' out. You plan suicide, jut you are w
afraid. In those long hours alone, cc
while I was waiting for Charles Wil- fo
a; son to keep his promise, I learned w
, tc drink. P?
5> t
a A girl who was blue and lonely ar
like myself advised it. '"It will drive as
* I away the blue devils. You'll think m
you are a princess?for a little fo
while,'' she said. m
I Two glasses of champagne made th
' my head whirl, made me dance and
e sing, made me laugh, made me build of
1 air castles of the time when I should
I go liome and introduce my husband ai
II and when my mother should take me of
I in her arms and say: "Daughter, I
0 forgive you." be
>?; The next time I was alone and blue m
11 ; I drank again, this time three glasses. g<
1 I kept on comforting myself thus in oi
secret. Ti
y\ Once Wilson came to call and tc
found me unconscious, with the tc
d empty bottle and glass beside me. hi
~ He was very angry. We quarreled, in
11 j He stayed away. ] entreated him T
' ' 1 l ? V< a or i ti n i n ti
10 COIlie UclL'K. it >> ar> mc ti
d of many scenes between us. T
d Whether he would have willingly a
0 kept his word had 1 not in those cc
S months of waiting formed the habit ei
e of drinking, I don't know. I have si
o never been sure. But of this I am B
e sure. It gave him an excuse for pro- w
e crastinating. It gave him reason to U
> tell me that his love was gone, bee'
cause the girl who had come from d<
S : Norfolk with him was gone. ai
n My mirror told me that this time d:
3 told the truth. I was not the
me girl. My figure was losing its
im, youthful lines. My features
ere bloated. My eyes were smaller
id the lids were heavy. My flesh
lor had disappeared, and had given
ay to a gray, pasty look. I was sober
;e morning I looked into the mirror
id saw the truth that all I had?
y beauty?was vanishing. I threw
yself oh the bed and cried for
Durs. I promised myself to stop
inking.
Had Becofne a Slave.
But that evening some gay friends
lephoned me of a party, that was
ling made up at a rathskeller to
atch the old year out and the new
T knpw T should he alone. I
ent. I slept all of the next day.
rhen I awoke I knew what that
javy torpor meant. 1 had drank
0 much, far too much.
1 had become a slave. Let me tell
>u what it is to become a slave to
ink. It is to become utterly hopess.
It is to become incapable of
fort of any kind, even effort of the
ill. Friends tried to "pull me up."
hey suggested Paris. But I felt
lly. the call of the cafes in Mont- ,
artre. I went to London. I haned
the Vanderbilt horses now and
ien, and the papers talked of the ,
irginia beauty who was so clever a
hip. But all the while a voice
hispered to me when I was alone: :
fou are not beautiful. You are not
ippy. You are not gay. Yon only
em to be. You and your kind are
)ples of Sodom, beautiful outside,
it ashes within?the ashes of deiair."
Charles Wilson's mood toward me
iried. Sometimes he was kind. At
hers cruel He secured his divorce.
here was a ceremony. I nave
ought a suit to prove that I became
s legal wife. That suit is pending
But he afterwards married another
-a young, lovely girl, with such a
ce of innocence as I had when I
st met him. The news drove me ,
antic. I watched for them one day,
id when they drove up to the stain
I threw myself in her path and
Id her my story. "He is not your
lsband. He's mine," I said, pointg
at him. A crowd collected. He
id me arrested. I served a term
Hollowav jail, with my golden
lir, that he had often said was my
iief beauty, cut off.
When I had serVed my term I
arched London for friends and
dp. I went to Paris and was arsted
at the station for disorderly
nduct. Thirty days. When I
oke people looked at me with conmpt
and drew away. My story was
ritten in my bloated features, in my
es that betrayed my, secret. 1
is a drunkard.
One night I sat all night while the
Id gray fog came up from the river
id wrapped me round, on one 6f
e benches on the embankment with
her human wrecks.
Tried to Kill Herself.
Once I tried to kill myself, but in
at as in everything else in my life,
failed.
I drifted back to America, half of
y passage paid by charitable Amerans.
I told my story to those I had
lown in my first days in New York,
ley doled out money to me, a little
a time, saying, "Spend it for food.
>t rum. norence.
I didn't follow their advice. A
laritable woman wrote my parents,
y own mother answered, saying her
jart was broken, but that they had
ven me up, that my case was hopess.
A kindhearted woman placed me
ith the good sisters in a convent
?ar Harrison, N. Y. They were
nd to me. but they would give me
)thing to drink. I craved drink, I
ent mad for it. I climbed the high
invent wall, ran to the station.
>und a dollar on the station floor
here some one had dropped it. and
lid my fare to New York. When I
rived T went straight to a cafe, f
iked the proprietor, who had known
e in prosperous times, to trust me
r the drinks. I telephoned a \voan
friend, who came and paid for
lem. though she did it grudgingly.
"I suppose I'll have to get you out
hock, you fool," she said.
"That's it," I said. "I'm a fool. I
n filled with the folly you pour out
: a bottle."
Since then I've lived about, on the
)unty of former friends who pitied
e. Mv health and strength were
)ne. I lay in bed all day, awaking
lly to drink myself into a stupor.
0 be sober was to realize the depths
1 which I had fallen, and that was
>rment, for then fine sensibilities I
id inherited from gentle folk awoke
i me and lashed me as with whips,
hen came this last terrible illness
lat sooner or later will prove fatal,
here is no hope for me. Drink
lused the abdominal walls to bejme
encysted. It hardened my livr.
I am dying, though tediously.
owly. There is no hope for me.
ut there is hope that I may say
hat will warn other girls from a
ite like mine.
I have seen other girls slip slowly
own to perdition, as I have done,
ad even more rapidly. That dread
isease, "swift consumption," is not
quicker than drink when it devours
seme bodies and blights some souls
"Do you drink?" I heard a physician
ask a beautiful young actress
"No," she replied, her clear eyes
looking into his, corroborating hei
story. "Why do you ask?"
"Because," he replied, if you did
you would be dead or insane in three
weeks."
Hers, he explained was a delicately
organized constitution upon which
liquor would work havoc, rapidly destroying
her nerves and putting out
the lamp of life.
I know a girl who is as beautiful as
the dawn, her beauty of the fresh
delicious sort of dew-kissed violets.
Yet that girl sits all day in cafes
drinking brandy and finishing the day
with doses of cocaine.
The doctors say that at most she
can live two months.
The Danger in Drink. '
Drink is the greatest danger thai
threatens a woman's footsteps, for ii
is the beginning of all other pitfalls.
Avoid the first glass and regard the
friend who offers you a first glase
from that time as an enemy.
Old men give advice: "Keep youi
head." You cannot keep your head
with demons of brandy or greer
devils of absinthe dancing in youi
brain.'Old
women tell you to guard well
your heart, for that way danger lies
You cannot guard your heart while
fumes of strong drink are muddlinp
your ideas. At such time every one
seems a friend and every one is
wrapped in romance.
The greatest safeguard a girl car
have is a fear?a hatred?of stronc
drink and of the drugs that follow
Drink and drugs are sign posts or
the path which leads by way of the
morgue to potter's field. My way
your way, the way that begins ir
~~?3 nnd atiHo in Hacnoir
IU1 L'CU gcijcty auu ^uuo lu avu^u.1
the way not of mirth, but of misery
abject and hopeless.?Washingtor
Post.
' FOR SALE.
BARGAINS IN REAL ESTATE.
38 fine building lots in town of Ehrhardt.
16 choice building lots in town ol
Bamberg.
1 store house and lot next#to post
office on Main street, Ehrhardt.
Apply to
JOHN F. FOLK,
Bamberg, S. C.
G. MOYE DICKINSON
INSURANCE AG E N T
Will Write Anything
Fire, Tornado, Accident, Liability,
Casualty, in the
strongest and most reliable
companies.
My Motto: "Buy What I Need
in Bamberg, and From Those
Who Patronize Me. "
'Phone 10-L, or at Oil Mill
BAMBERG, S. C.
"LOMBARD"
Improved Saw Mills.
VARIABLE FRICTION FEED. S ind^Relimble
[Best material and workmanship, light
running1, requires little power; simple,
easy to handle. Are made in several
'sizes and are good, substantial moneymaking
machines down tothesmallesl
size. Write for catalog showing Engines,
Boilers and all Saw Mill supplies,
Lombard Iron Works & Supply Co.,
t AUGUSTA. CA. j
HUSBAND RESCUED
DESPAIRING WIFE
After Four Tears of Discouraginf
^ u nu i_ ft
Conditions, inrs. duiiock, uavc
Up in Despair. Husband
Came to Rescue.
Catron, Ky.?In an interesting lettei
from this place, Mrs. Bettie Bullocl
writes as follows: "I suffered for fouj
years, with womanly troubles, and during
this time, I could only sit up for a little
while, and could not walk anywhere a
all. At times, I would have severe paim
in my left side.
The doctor was called in, and his treatment
relieved me for a while, but I wae
soon confined to my bed again. Aftei
that, nothing seemed to do me any good
1 had gotten so weak 1 could not stand
and I gave up in despair.
At last, my husband got me a bottle o
Cardui, the woman's tonic, and I commenced
taking it From the very firs
dose, I could tell it was helping me. J
can now walk two miles without it!
tiring me, ana am uumg my wum.
If you are all run down from womanlj
troubles, don't give up in despair. Trj
Cardui, the woman's tonic. It has helpe<
more than a million women, in its 5(
years of wonderful success, and shoulc
surely help you, too. Your druggist hai
sold Cardui for years. He knows wha
it will do. Ask him. He will recommend
it. Begin taking Cardui today.
Write to: Chattanooga Medicine Co., Ladies
Advisory Dept., Chattanooga, Tenn., tor Specia
Instructions on your case and 64-page book, "Hon*
Treatment for Women," sent in plain wrapper. E66-E
5 J. C. LEE, President
Farmers - - Merch;
! If you are going to Build, ]
invite vour ii
1 COMPLETE HOUSE BI
We manufacture and deal i
Stairs, Interior Trim, Store
Pews, Pulpits, etc,, Rough
Lath, Pine and Cypress Shii
Siding. Distributing agent
Estimates Cheerfully ai
Woodward Lum
AUGUSTA I
t Corner Roberts & 1
our jvuxi
QUALITY - -
I sip pose you lot i
it be gratifying to
in the Bank, youi
your best friend it.
some day it wil
you. our Bank is
Why do ships carry life b
SIDE, should anything happi
sudden, unlooked for things,
ness or calamity! That's whei
to and draw some of the mon
there, now, where it is safe
VERSITYa
ft
j Make OUR bank
We pay 4 per cen
I | > pounded quarterly or
I Farmers & Me;
i BHRHARD
?
i
i Stono Fei
! For Sal<
(
H. J. BRABHAM,
i
i
i
II
1 cy^nJUSS^j^K
^S|B&^52^riflH9H^
> ,j||wL
Will B<
; PEOPLE DRUG CO. .
Friday and Saturday
i SPECTACLES t
Fitted by my scientific, drugless
I to the eves for the relief of hea<
THINK IT
Do your eyes tire? Do you hav<
r trouble you? Do your eyes inflai
1 Do you have trouble to see well!
J the e3'es of thousaDds of people (
:! received by those wearing his gli
9 |
Consult me first., 1 wi
. REMEMBER THE DATE 1 h
I n
F. E. GIBSON, Sect'y & Treas.
ants - - Builders
Remodel or Repair, we '
lquiries.
LLS A SPECIALTY 1
in Doors, Sash, Blinds,
Fronts, and Fixtures,
and Dressed Lumber,
igles, Flooring, Ceiling
s for Flintkote Roofing
. ? * *3
. nd
Carefully made.
ber Company J
GEORGIA
Dugas Streets
rro:
- SERVICE .
sick, wicrfippr
have money
r money is j
- take care of
l take care of ||
a safe place
oats? To be on the SAFE.
3n. Things do happen?
Think of it?dea,th, sick1
you NEED a bank to go
ey you should be putting
; for OLD AGE or ADYOUR
bank ;
t. interest, com- '$&
i savings deposits
rchants Bank
____________
tilizers ?
Bamberg, S. C. * |
'^18
Dr. C. R. CouIton| |
OPTOMETRIST
and
OPTICIAN f
; At
- BAMBERG, S. C. <|
r, February 27-28
EYEGLASSES
method of adopting lenses
iaches caused bv eyestrain
OVER
? headaches? Do your eyes
me? Do you suffer dizziness?
? Dr. Coujton has examined
)f this vState and the benefits
asses nas Deen pneiiuiucucu.
ill advise you right
ave no agents, all work done
AT DRUG STORE
J I
i
*
*
i