NON-FICTION,FICTION: Melba

NON-FICTION

Another prima donna has written her memoirs,* and if the manner in which they have been set down is not notably distinctive, they have at least the advantage of having as their subject a personage. Now 67 years old, retired, living in her native Australia, she tells the story of an eventful, glamorous career, beginning with her struggles as Mrs. Nellie Mitchell Armstrong to interest someone in her voice, her study with Marchesi, eccentric old lady who could not tolerate Nellie's one winter dress and would not let her wash her hair for fear of taking cold. There are more memories than melodies. There are tales of de buts and ovations, of how Peche Melba got its name, of the War work that made her a Dame of the British Empire. There are tales, of practical jokes, most of them expensive, many of them thread bare, which, if one may judge by the space allotted them, must have seemed to Melba excruciatingly funny. There is nothing about the practical Melba, the Melba who promoted the first taxi company in Australia and made a fortune when Australia did nobly by its Nell. But there are anecdotes, many of them priceless, gossipy friendly ones, about such famed folk as Sarah Bernhardt, who coached her Marguerite; Wilhelm Hohenzollern, who flicked his fin gers and the Empress followed; King Edward VII, who felt obliged to discuss affairs of state all through her singing; Oscar Wilde, the last time she saw him a "tall, shabby man, his collar turned up to his neck," who stopped her on a Paris street to ask for money; Ellen Terry, Charlie Chaplin, Anton Rubinstein, Lord Northcliffe, Jean de Reszke, Nellie Melba.

Sharper

FORTY YEARS A GAMBLER ON THE MISSISSIPPI—George H. Devol —Henry Holt ($2). An inland buccaneer tells many disconnected anecdotes of fleecing the not-so-innocents who traveled up and down the great valley before, during and after the Civil War. The chief characters are the three little pasteboards of three-card monte; the marked poker deck; palmed aces, loaded dice and Devol, who never would give up his takings, preferring a rough-and-tumble every time. He was an expert rough-and-tumbler and left a trail of broken noses behind him by his deftness at ramming with his head. He has but one moral to point— that the suckers are just as crooked as the gamblers but not so clever. Many of his anecdotes are entertaining, all are lively, but they suffer from lack of variety.

"One for All"

DOLLARS ONLY—Edward W. Bok — Scribner ($1.75). A wealthy retired editor pens a vigorous exhortation to those who waste too much of their lives in the vehement pursuit of the Dollar, an exhortation to public service, "one for all." He promises satisfaction such as they have never known to all who will enlist under that banner with a strange device, "Service."

FICTION

First and Last