Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-22
CLEAR. CRISP AND CLEAN
Y. M. c. A. GAMES

HHE ministers of a certain denom-
ination in Seattle have voted to
n withdraw their moral and finan-
cia1 support from the Young Mems
Christian association In that city If the
management insist upon allowing bill
lard and pool tables in the associa-
tion's new building. One of the min
listers says he will be willing to swal-
low chess, checkers, dominoes and
other games which he arbitrarily
places in the harmless class, but he
draws the line at billiards, the inven-
tion OF the devil.
Times change, but some ministers. it
would seem, do not. Perhaps those Of
Seattle are correct in CHASING both
billiards and pool as baneful, the de-
vices of the monarch of the neither
regions; perhaps they are wrong At
any rate it is very difficult thing to
draw the line between harmless and
vicious forms Of diversion. A quarter
Of century ago a member of a
church Of one denomination which we
will not designate would have been
"churched' II he had dared to suggest
that an organ or any other musical
instrument be introduced into his
house of worship for accompaniment to
the human voice of praise In another
denomination--in probably half
dozen of them-in which the use of the
organ had become common, the violin
was prohibited as unnecessary and
therefore harmful. Now some of the
more progressive church congregations
I'm these denominations listen to full
orchestras during some of their
services.
In the days when our forbears were
worshiping their God in the wilder
ness of New England they regarded it
as sin to heat their places of worship
artificially. Chess and checkers were
considered vastly more wicked thu
some of the modern religious
disciplinarians view billiards and the
exciting game of cassino. 1t will not
be many years, at the present rate of
the development of religious thought,
when practically every churchman's
club house and every Y. M. C. A. build.
ing will be equipped with billiard
tables and various other means of
amusement.
We cannot see that billiard or pool
playing in itself is sin, any more
than the time-honored game of authors
or of old maid is. 1t is vicious only
when played amid surroundings not
conducive to the elevation Of the moral
tone of those who indulge in games of
this class The Y. NJ. C. A. aims, as
rule, to give to young men a place
where they may gather daily and
nightly and find wholesome amuse-
ment- Many young men of good
character prefer the two games mem
toned to all others. Do the Seattle
ministers intend to be understood that
they would prefer that such young
men would seek the public pool or bill
lard hall rather than the rooms of the
Y. NJ c. A.? Do they expect every
normal, vigorous, warm blooded young
American to content himself with pink
teas and the alluring game Of tiddledy-
winks? WIN they kindly point the way
to the marking of a distinction be-
tween driving an ivory bah around a
green cloth covered table in building
dedicated to the use of young men of
good habits and knocking wooden
ball around on green lawn or a saw
dust covered plot of ground covered
with wire hoops? About the only real
difference between these two forms of
diversion, excepting the rules govern
higher degree Of intelligence and skill
than the other-''the other" being that
thrilling pastime known as croquet.
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