The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-09-04
IN STRAW HATS, Have Always Sc they SHOW at
prices from 25c TO the
VvOOO x WA OON. Been finest for
he
BILLIARDS AT HOME.
A Table Tends TO Keep Young Men
In the House.
Magnificent Rooms for the sport-Sim-
plicity In Fittings Desired.


ing TO the latter day prominence OF ath-
letics. II is predicted by some that the
rage for bicycling and other violent ath-
letic sports which have for the present
driven billiards into the background will
shortly begin to wane, and that billiards
VIII resume the place from which they
have been temporarily driven. One objec-
tion to athletic sports Is that they disin-
tegrate family life. The boys are at base
ball matches, the gymnasium, on the road
bicycling. They are never at home, ex-
cept to eat and sleep.
man who has sons says that he has
found that IL there is a well-equipped bill
liard-room near the roof, with good air,
adequate privacy and satisfactory means
OF refreshment, his sons after business
hours are mucn more likely to come home
and bring their friends with them TO play
until dinner than 10 go to their clubs.
Ii Is fact that billiard-rooms which
used TO be in the basement have gone up
stairs. Men will go upstairs to play bill
liards when they will not go down. In
the basement they are too near the SER
wants, whose ears are preternaturaily
acute. Upstairs there is greater freedom
for conversation.
A billiard table, like a piano, is in form
thing to be endured, when 1t cannot be
alleviated. Certain conditions are inevit-
able. IL must have dimensions by 8 feet
or by 10 feet. Ii must have strong sup
ports. For years II was accordingly strong
but clumsy. Now it is strong, but less
aggressive. Architects have wrestled with
II. and finally have brought IL into sub
lection. 80 important is any successful
result that IL is patented. The architects
who designed the tables of the Union
League Club did this, and the house COM
mittee of the club will sometimes as a
courtesy permit the mbers TO have the
design repeated for themselves.
PerbaDs not enough attention has beeu
given TO fine billiard cues. Length,
weight and balance are the proper consd-
erations. The wood proper is ash, with
leather tips that are made by French peas
ants, and not procured elsewhere. Each
cue is, or should be constructed so that IL
will balance in the middle when placed
across the finger. For this reason, the
end in the hand is usually of lighter
wood, and here some ornamentation is
given. Beadlike mouldings that assist
the hand in its grip are prefeIrei. The
most expensive cues are ornamented with
successive curving bands of colored wood
inlays, and these are SO perfectly joined
that they look like enamels, the effect be-
ing that of peacock's eyes.
The essentials OF billiard-room are
few, but these are important. There must
be plenty OF clear space around the tables
wardiy handled shall not harm them.
There should be no projections to imperil
the arms and shoulders OF enthusiastic
players. There should be raised seats con
veniently out Of the way for onlookers.
There should be recesses for cues and
other things. The perfect billiard-room
contains no non-essentials.
There have been some wonderful bill
liard-rooms produced within the last 10
years in town. An architect OF large ex-
perience says that nothing in this coun-
try compares with that of w. X. Wander
bilt. Ii is Moorish room, opening out
Of the Francis dining room. The walls
are wainscotted five feet high with old
Moorish tiles. Above these the walls are
covered with cartonpierrs after designs
from the Alhambra, which 30 years ago
the Spanish government allowed W. NJ.
Hunt 10 copy. The woodwork is butter
nut with Moorish interlacings. The man
tells and fire fscings of the horseshoe
arch are of Mexican onyx, and a series o.
onyx columns above makes recesses mere
the cues and certain solids and liquids of
the room are kept. Adjoining is toilet
room with Moorish tiles and fixtures in
onyx.
Cornelius vanderbDt's billiard-room
was, II II has not been changed in the
remodeling of the house, the corner
room in the basement. 1t is in fact ma
hogany box in the room proper and
could be removed like cabinet work at
any time. The inches for cues and the
cupDoards Tor refreshments and cigars are
Enclosed within this mahogany lining, so
that, as was said, there need be no projec-
tlons to interfere with the game. The ta-
bic is OF mahogany after special designs.
George w. Vande bilt's billiard-room is
japanese. The walls are covered with
which is an admira BILE provision
against the cues. The table is lacquered
in old red, and dragons and other gro
tesque forms are hammered in.
The late HOwall 0shorr in tho Oahorpa
villa, at Mamaroneck, had one of the not
a bic billiard-rooms in the country. This
was OF oak. The walls were covered with
brown calfskin, held in place with brass
nails. The soft brown tint Of the tanned
hide is one OF the most agreeable tints
that Nature and man have combined to
produce. It carries with IL such a pleas
ant suggestion OF strength, endurance,
indifference to hard knockns, a sense of
viriiity complementing those things one
IovS TO think of men, and therefore APP
propriately used IN mems rooms and be-
ongings.
Senator Brice has one OF the handsom-
est tables in town. IL Is OF oak elaborate
y carved. Particular attention has been
bestowed on the legs; the legs furnish al !
most the only opportunity the designer |
has for making the billiard table beauti- |
Iul. For Mr.. Brice's table the cloth was |
specially dyed TO metch the blue-green tint |
)f the room. Cloth for billiard tables is |
special weave made by n man, Simon by |
name, in Belgium. The green OF the or
iinary table Is well known.
The handsomest table ever made in this
country was for Nine. Patti. 1t was OF
osewood and amaranth woods. with
land- d-painted panels. II cost $1,000 and is
,..v. NJ