The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1855-03-03

--Ahy SdNeu you biou- |
.-4... nard cash-(a man can't
.. :. 20 be a decent billiart-player under five
thousand but it has kept you from one of
the cunningest and most seductive destinations
ever invented by the devil for carrying on his |
schemes and plans on this most green-horn,
gullibe planet.
And yet. a billard-table- it is: look
at it. 1t does MT seem to be any thing so very
terriblo-merely u large mahogany table, COW
cred with green cloth, and furnished with pock
cts at the sides and corners. There surely is
MT any thing very terrible about that.
Possibly not. But just take those smoothe
red and white ivory balls out Of the pockets,
and roll them softly over the slnoothe CLOTH
How silently they glide! What pretty angles
and cllipses they make, shooting about from
cushion to cushion, kissing one another in the
face, chasseeang one another from side to side,
and indulging in all sorts of pretty gyrations! {!
Well; but do Mt see any harm in all that.
All! Take down q cue, and get John or Joe
or any Of the craft to ndoctrinate you into the
use OF ito gradually teach you the science of
caram and hazard, the mysteries Of forcing and
following, the laws of angles and Of momen-
tunl-alid before you are aware of it, you are
irretrievably lost. Every movement and pro
cess in billiards is in accordance with some
scientific law; and the whole game, in its oper-
ations and results, is one of the most beautiful
and gratifying, merely in this point Of view,
that can be presented to the eye of mind.
But, in addition to this, no game has ever
been inyented-with the single exception of
chess-which so opowerfully appeals to the mere
desire to triumph over your adversary, as bill
lizards. It seems to set into activity every SEN
timent of vanity rivalry and ambition, through
out the whole being. doubt whether the de-
sire to win the favor of woman from rival
is stronger than the intense desire to conquer
an antagonist at billiards, Defeat produces
| the keenest modification, and success the most
beatifc pleasure.
| Although there is, Of course, great deal OF
gambling carried on at billiards, yet it is not
decidedly one Of the gambling games " in this
country. The excitement of the game itself is
quite sufficient for most mems nerves and the
farther you progress in ii, and the better you
play, the more absorbing the excitement be
comes. We know many men, young and old
in New York, Pmlaaelphia and Boston, who
spend an average Of from ten to fifteen hours 6
day in playing billiards. and who never bet, eX
cept occasionally round of drinks, or cigars
Those who do not understand the game, or wht
are just beginning to learn it, will scarcely fine
it possible to credit this statement; yet every
marker or billiard-table keeper in this city vii
assure you that it is literally fact. Indeed
although l have been for d quarter of a centur,
studying. observing and analyzing the habit
and designations Of mankind ! have never bcel
quite able to account for the irresistible fascl
nation eXerted over their victims by billiard
land pretty women.
Let us step into the fashionable billiard-roon
at about ten or eleven O'Clock in the evening
The morning is always dull here it is only il
the evening that billard-room can be consd
cred in its full blast. Here are some eight 0
len tables, all in row, and all in operation
1t is curious and instructive sight; and if yo
have come out for the purpose of studying hi
man nature in its out-ofdoors manifestation
you could not have chosen a better place or
, more favorable moment.
At the biliiard-room, we meet the mos
respectable as well us the wealthiest and mos
intelligent persons in the community. 1t
J true that there are those who never visit eitht
| billiard-rooms or thcaters; but they are MOI
t the more respectable on that account. a ee
r tain quantity of healthy and agreeable pasiim
J. both for mind and body, is absolutely indispe
l sable; and Of all their varieties, certainly b
Q lizards and..the theater are the last two that v
: would have eStinguished.
G Every man has a distinct and charactcrist
9 way of playing billiards, as he has of putin
0 on his trowsers or getting into bed. Son
y play close and carefully, pausing so long b
l. tween the shots, to take in all the circnl
n stances probabilities and possibilities Of t
c case that they completely exhaust your ?
II tience aud when it comes to your turD, u
o let drive at random merely to have it over a
e get it out of the way. Often your cunning a
s. slow antagonist has studied this as u part
d his chances Of the game. These careful c
Of traders, speculators and hargain-makers knt
ID well the value Of slowness and delberation,
Sc its effect upon mercurial and impatient me
q and in trade, as well as billiards, it is one
10 their chief means Of success. We have oft
It. seen good billiayd-player beaten, game al
IS game in spite of himself by some careful, slo
= moving old fogy, whose game was not equal
he his by half,
~ This distinction in the manner OF playi
ou does not apply merely to Old and young it
ot universal. ] have often noticed it betwt
ny young men Of the same age; and to me,
e indications afforded ay nj hours observation
he the game OF billiards are as satisfactory, as
he the future destiny Of thc players, as the N
rs. careful and elaborate Chart Of their pMcnolc