Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-12-17
ENGLISH BILLIARDS.
4 silly nnd stupid Game rha, IL OBJ
soletc In America.


The Pail Mall Gazette inquiries, in
connection with the bankruptcy of
Cook. the famous billiardplayer. whcth-
er the English taste for billiards and
show games" is dying out The facts
in this case are certainly curious. Cook
is one of the best English players, and
occupies a position like that of Schaefcr
or Slosson in this country. Yet he
sworo that while the rent of his saloon
was 1850 and his marker and his
waiter cost him S25 week the gross
receipts of his place since April had
not exceeded the latter amount week
ly. He attributes his misfortune to
decline in the popularity of the game
Everybody knows that in this country
the popularity of billiards is steadily
increasing. There is not billiard sa-
loon in New York of which the weekly
receipts are so small as that of the sa-
loon kept by one Of the most famous
players in London, while n player Of
Cook rank could here earn salary
greater than Cooks total receipts by
simply playing every day in one place
and thus attracting customers TO it. In
a general way Englishmen are quite rs
fond of games, either of skill or chance,
! as Americans are, and il seems odd
that while billiards are more and more
played in the United States they should
be less and less played in England.
The difference must be looked for
In the difference between English and
American billiards. The British con-
servatlsm which Emerson described as
"prehensility of tail' is shown in
nothing more strikingly than in the
manner in which the English cling to
the most crude and antiquated forms of
pastime Cricket is Il game which no.
body who is duly impressed with the
/ shortncss and uncertainty Of human
life has any business with. either as a
player or spectator. 1t commonly takes
three days to play out first-class
match, because of the enormous
! amount OF time wasted in observing the
Conventionalities and traditions of the
/ game. besides the amount wasted in
absolute dawdling. if indeed this be not.
one of the cherished traditions The
American people, to almost all of
whom time is of some value. show their
sense of its value by abstaining from at
tendance. in any great numbers, upon
tine solemn exercises of an interna-
tional match. If cricket were to be-
come popular in tins country il would.
have 10 be so transformed that an En-
glish cricketcr would scarcely recoo-
nizc it, and this transformation might
nc effected without sacrificing any of
I la Il m, LII
game The old English game. of
''rounders' is the original of baseball
The game has been improved beyond
recognition, and not the least improve
ment is the shortening of it. 50 that n
firSt-class match can now bc witnessed
after business hours. Tho result is that
probably twenty times as many people
have attended baseball matches in this
country during the pas. summer as
ever IN one season attended cricket
matches in England.
English billiards suffer under equal
disadvantages with cricket. though the
disadvantages are not the same The
game is played upon vast plain of
seventy-two square feet, bcoken b. six
apertures at the sides. Ills structure
requires space of ut least twentv-two
by sixteen feet. The breaks in the
cushion caused by the pockets preclude
the continuous use of the rail and GREAT
~ hamper the play for position which
IN fully civilized countries is regarded
rs the highest attainment and severest
test of skill.
1t was on such table that billiards
were played in this country Twenty-Five
years ago, and all the changes that
have since been made in it have tended
TO make the game more scientific and
more interesting and conSeqr ntlv moro
popular Ii is curious 10 ref ct that at
that remote period American billiard
PLAYERS not only played q game in which
pockets and carroms were mixed. but
that the color of the ball pockcted or of
the balls carromed upon made n differ
ence IN the score. These absurdities
were long ago removed from the Amer
lcan game. They survive in the Eng
lish game. The standard American Ia
ole - two feet shorter and foot mar
rover than the English table. while u
smaller size still is used very commonly
In clubs and saloons and almost univer-
sally IN private houses. where such a
table requires about two-thirds the room
needed for an English table. The only
advantage that can be claimed for the
English table over the American table
IS that pool can be played on it. But
this is really a drawback, since billiards
IS an inter, sting and scientific game
and pool is merely form of riot If
we had been a. stubborn as the English
n refusing TO rat onalize billiards our
best b lizard PLAYERS might be going
nio bankruptcy. If the English had
ollowed our example billiards might
Dc rs popular in England rs they are
iere, and the English PLAYERS m ght be
with practitioners of civil
zcd billiards in Paris or New York in
lead OF making dismal series of spot
trokes against each other.-NcU Yorh
itnleS.
The Press.
The press swaVs the world II is tho