The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-03

Sldiludtd gauge cut OUT oil a steel saw tina {
enables me to measure accurately the d.
ameter of billiard balls. This is no bust
ness for the young man 10 seek an apprefl-
ticeship in. The labor of teaching a man
! TO turn out The best balls would be too
Igreat for almost any tutor, even were
there were a demand for more workmen.
That young man finishing a ball at my
right was a first-class wood turner when [
undertook to tell him oil | had learned
about ivory working in my long appren-
ticeship at the business. He can do about
| as well as l can now. But the other
| workman is a turner from Germany
where they turn balls end for end and
have frequently had to show him wherein
his style was productive of balls not ex-
actly true.
THE sense of touch must be acute to
turn good ball. / can feel a lead-penci
mark upon the rapidly spinning ball when
it is in the chuck of the lathe Perhaps
you may think that is largely imaginary.
But my eyes are good and l believe my
finger tips are as sensitive as ever. Once
! cut eight balls from one ball tooth. This
must have been a tusk from a full-grown
female elephant, who was quite old. If
more balls were ever cut out of one tusk
/ here in America l have failed 10 learn of
the case. The ordinary tuslIs give from
two to five billiard balls. Balls of two
| and three-eighths inches are the kind gen.
| orally used in the United States. In coun-
tries near the tropics the size of the bill
| lard ball is increased. Rings are first
cut from the block of ivory when prepar-
| ing to cut a ball. Years ago, before the
use of celluloid in making trappings for
harness and martingale rings, these ivory
clrclets were in great demand. Now only
| the fancers of real ivory ask for these
rings when buying harness.
Here are roughly finished balls cut in
London and in Amsterdam. Some are
| heavier than others, but all are of a uni
| form dull white color. They have been
| seasoning for some time. These balls are
supposed to be from Zanzibar stock. But
| the best ivory dealer in the world could not
| distinguish the west coast ivory from the
real Zanzibar when it is cut up like this
Men who sell billiard balls and care little
! for the reputation of their houses are
| likely to sell white Egyptian or cape ivory
for the Zanzibar. But the deception will
| be discovered by use. Here are some balls
turned from a mammoth tusk an Alas
ka man sent to me. l told him if he had
plenty more of such ivory in sight he would
not need to go to the Klondike. Unfortu-
nately he had sent me only the very choic-
| est specimen of all he had taken from that
arctic ivory mine.
Yes, all the balls that the great cham
pions of recent years have used in their
| championship battles I have cut. If 9TH
| ers were used we did not know it, The
| greatest care must be used in selecting
balls for these matches, for the billiard
lists are very 'finnicky persons. Talk about
old maidsl Why, the champion billiard
list is fifty times as notional. He will com
plain if the balls are kept at the same
temperature and declare that one is heav-
fa,, 4I,, h. tIo1;
| cate stroke of a piece of chalk will de-
stroy the balance when the balls are plac-
ed in a scale. Yet 1 have made balls for
all of them in my time, and have testimO-
nials of the friendship of the champ ons
Here is diamond pin Ives gave me just
before leaving for Europe the first
| time Here is gold rule Schaefer. Carter
Sexton and Slosson united in giving to
me. They realize-do these expert players
that the billiard balls must be sisters.
To me this means that each shall have
the same resiliency, specific gravity,
weight and structure. The cellular struc-
ture of the ivory gives it its life and makes
it impossible for men to substitute any
other substance for ivory for the purpose.
1t would be better, no doubt if the set of
balls for the coming Ives-Schaefer worlds
championship match could be cut from the
same tusk. But will find three balls that
will suit the champions.
IF expert players are whimsical regard
ing the tools that they use in playing, ivory
could well be called human in its whims
l have known freshly turned ball to
crack over night. This from change in
temperature. short time ago the steam
was shut off in this building one Satur-
day night and Sunday it became quite
cold. Just nineteen balls, worth So each,
we're cracked beyond reparation. Once I
made a set of balls for Roberts, the older,
not the present pool and billiard player of
England He took them across the ocean,
and of course they were unfit to be played
with when he reached London.
."Another thing l have learned is that
ivory does not grow at the poles of the
ball. the statement of some ivory dealers
10 the contrary Notwithstanding. 1t has
a faculty of shrinking at the equatorial
plane, and the srinkage may be rapid or
slow and not so pronounced. To turn
set Of balls here for use in San Francisco
would be 10 give some turner in that
coast city a job TO make the balls round
again. THESE little things l state to illus
trate the delicate nature of ivory. 1t not
only shrinks in an outandish manner
but it loses life at times
The venerable cutter has his own ideas
about the supply of ivory He realizes
that at the rate of growth in elephants
a tusk from an animal over 100 years old
is generally about eighteen pounds in
weight Thousands of elephants would
have to be killed TO supply the dealers in |
Zanzibar ivory for one season. Ivory is |
worth S6 a pound now. Mr.. Brittner !
thinks the cunning Arabs who control. in |
a great measure, the caravan traffic in
ivory in Africa viii take care that the |
world never learns the real nature of !
their sources Of the valuable product. 1t Is |
his idea that there are fields in Africa |
where a white man has never trod that |
are the burial grounds OF pachyderms of |
ages. Ivory so ancient that its cracks are |
deep and filed with minute particles of /
sand cones from Africa. Why should we |
not suppose that the supply of ivory will 1
not continue from these sources, he asks, |
for many years, and even when the wild
elephants Of the dark continent have be- /
come very scarce2 There are others In !
the business who refuse to take such an
optimistic view of the situation.
-Out Slcigh-ridins.-"W Jennie. your
cheeks are blue with cold, said Regi-