Amusements.

Thomas Murray and his company played "The Voodoo" to a fair house at the Lansing last night. "The Voodoo," like all farce comedy, is an exaggeration, the only difference is that it is a little less clever and a little more loud than most of them. More than that "Voodoo" wit is a little stale. In wit and women we can pardon every sin but age. Reigning comedies like reigning belles may be as shallow, as frivolous, as wicked even, as they please, but wrinkles and gray hair are forbidden them. The world not only wants to laugh, but it wants to laugh at something that it has not laughed at in its youth. There is no possible excuse for a comedy farce being stale. Tragedies must be more or less so, for there is only a limited number of ways of killing men after all. Dramas are apt to be, for love is pretty much the same the world over. Operas are sure to be, for there are only a certain number of tones and combinations of tones in music. But farce comedy deals with the follies and wickedness of all creation, and these are without number and are always fresh and inspiring. The assortment of nonsense and wickedness in the booth of his satanic majesty is so large and varied that there is no excuse for a playwright selecting naughty jokes that have been used and returned to the second-hand counter.

"The Voodoo" is pretty rank, but it is not so bad as its bills. Thomas Murray is a good comedian, he can laugh himself and he can make other people laugh. He is an artist in his line, though his line is not a very aspiring one. Miss Ada Bothner is still the mirthful soubrette who made such an effective Teddy in Hoyt's "Bunch of Keys," but time has by no means passed her by, and she is not so young or so pretty as she once was. One could enjoy her acting, nevertheless, for she seemed to enjoy it herself. The great fault with the play is that from beginning to end it is "the same thing over again."

Last night, for the third time since her return from her studios at Boston, Miss Daisy Tuttie appeared in a vocal recital in the Y. M. C. A. hall, giving unmistakable pleasure to an audience of nearly 200 people. In many respects this was the most satisfactory of all her public appearances in Lincoln. A few mannerisms noticed at her last concert, due largely to nervousness and fatigue, were absent. She had complete command of herself and sang with confidence, accuracy, precision. The qualities of her voice which have been so generally admired came out to excellent advantage under these favorable conditions, and her tones, especially in the upper register, had a clearness and resonance that reminded one of a triumphant trumpet call. Her greatest fault of last night was a lack of shading, due, no doubt, to a high enthusiasm and the strength to keep up to its demands through the entire program. A trifling defect, and one easily remedied, is the habit of eating time with the sheets of music, which sometimes gives an erroneous impression that the singer and the accompanist are not in perfect sympathy.

Miss Tuttie was received with warmth and rewarded for her songs with applause, flowers and unstinted compliments. Her greatest success was Adams' "Mona," after which she was recalled to sing the "Maid of Dundee." Schubert's serenade was less effective than it would have been with a string accompaniment, more suited to Schubert's style. The jewel song from Faust was done with a spirit and a voice that rose to the needs of this rather ambitious piece.

Miss Tuttie was assisted by Dr. E. H. Eddy , who sang De Koven's "Spanish Serenade" in good voice and with fine effect; by Mr. Eddie Walt , who played two violin numbers, Singelee's "Fantasie Pastorale" and Rubenstein's "Melodie in F," and by Miss Gertrude Culberston , whose rendtion of Chopin's scherzo was a brilliant performance and whose accomplishments were played with good taste and accuracy, throughout.