Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-28
Nine. Palma, W/ho Sang, Came to
Mary's Neck and Mas Nicely Cold
Shouldered BY the Summer Inhabitants
But Did She Care?-IHis rs Story
PePPered Min Langhs-71uL Story
Such as only This Author Can Produce.

of the disturbance that's been going on lately
and right up to now concerning the people
living in that same Ballinger cottage which is
the matter I've had on my mind to tell you
about. Mrs. Massey heard the news less than
an hour after we'd got back to Marys Neck for
the season. who do you think has rented the
Ballinger cottage?" she asked our daughters,
Clarissa and Enid, and me.
Judging by her looks and the way she shouted
who thought it must be at least the Vice
President of the United States, and when We
gave up guessing and she said Madame
Palma!" like explosion, I was disappointed.
Madame Palma?" said. 1T seems to me
I've heard Of her somewhere. Isn't she some
kind OF a clairvoyant?"
But Mrs. Massey and the girls just whooped
at me- the way they do when I show more
than customary ignorance; they said anybody
that read the newspapers was supposed to be
aware that Madame Palma was one of the
most prominent grand opera prima donnas in
the world. They must have been right about
that, because at the beach next day I appeared
to be the only person in the whole of Marys
Neck that didn't know more about her than
an automobile dealer does about the president
Of the company that makes his cars. Where
Mrs. Massey and were sitting, with Mrs.
Weeder and Mrs. Dalyrmple and Mr.. and Mrs.
Bullhnch, there wasn't any other topic at all.
you'd think that II a great foreign prima
dona like Madame Palma weren't going to
spend the Summer in her own country, at
Deauville or Biarritz for instance" Mrs. Weeder
said, shed at least select Newport or Bar
Harbor. Really, her coming here shcws what an
important resort Marys Necks getting to be-"
Yes Mrs. Dalrymple agreed. Madame
Palma probably likes to be among people Of
her own sort. She's Hungarian countess by
birth and"
mot at ALL" Mrs Weeder told her. "She
began life peddling dried sea horses in Naples"
But Mr. Bullfnch interviewed, feeling that he
had the right information. He usually does feel
that way, being a severe, sandy-haired man
with a considerable sense of importance and
absolutely all about Madame Palma" he said.
"Her stage name-all these headline singers
take Italian names-is Fiametta Palma; but her
real name Is Fanny Palmer and she's from
California. I know, because a second cousin
Of mine was well acquainted with this Fanny
Palmer out there when she was studying music
in Oakland. She left there to 60 abroad but
he heard her sing in New York about four
times; her last husband was Russian prince,
but she's q widow again, because he jumped OF
q cliff"
"I don't see how she could be an American"
Mrs. Weeder said, because the papers were all
talking about her learning English only last
Autumn when she came to sing In America for
the first time"
mo- you're mistaken" Mrs. Bullfnch told
her, in a prim kind Of way she has, because
Mrs. Bullfnch is that sort of woman generally,
prim and mostly disappearing. mo, heard
Mr. Bullfnch's cousin from California talking