Women write, women are experts in music and the fine arts generally, they hunt, they row, they punt, they fish, drive, play golf, and pursue an indefinite number of amusements, and excel in some degree, but it is strange and inexplicable that when we consider the greatest of our indoor sports—or be it pastime— it is extremely difficult to find a woman who can hold a billiard cue in orthodox fashion, and a player is indeed a rara avis. Now, what accounts for this? The answer seems to point to the old-time prejudice that was so long waged against the game of billiards. It is indeed a curious anomaly in this enlightened age to realize that even to-day the game in public places, where they play, is controlled under an enactment of the reign of King Henry VIII., under the category of the Gaming Act.
No wonder that mothers and guardians in the Victorian era looked askance at their daughters pursuing a pastime inaugurated under such a stigma; but what a burlesque of modern ideas it is that this same act is still the basis upon which licences for public billiard playing are granted or refused by the magistrates, especially in these days when the great temperance advocates and the highest dignitaries of our State controlled Church encourage and support the game as a means of counteracting the evil influences to which the younger generation of men are exposed. That this is a fact will be generally admitted, but many have been the obstacles which have had to be contended with before it has been generally recognized that the game has a tendency to promote steadfastness of character, sobriety, accuracy, good demeanour, chivalry and fairness of action among young men, added to which, as a gentle means of evening exercise it is of inestimable value after sedentary employment.
Now, when will the young woman of to-day appreciate the game, or will she ever? Surely she is not going to acknowledge herself defeated and take no part in the fight for supremacy with the other sex. Is she going to admit that patience, which is, of course, the first necessity, in order to achieve any degree of skill, is wanting, It is useless excusing herself behind the shelter of some such attitude as that the billiard room is the sanctum of men and is not intended for her.
In the olden days men smoked there, and women were thus debarred from fear of soiling pretty clothes, but now that women smoke this is no barrier, and, though the whisky and soda may be in evidence, this, or an occasional departure from the language of the nursery, when the cannon attempted fails to materialize, will not be foreign to her in the environment of her other sports.
Great cue-men must possess an insuperable power of application and a capacity for seeing and calculating ahead not enjoyed by most people, and it is an open question whether women are not perhaps more fitted in these essentials at the game than their brothers. There are so few women players that have ever come before the public that it is indeed difficult to compare the playing qualities of both sexes. It must not be overlooked that there is a good field for employment of a lucrative nature open to lady professionals, but none have up to the present attained such efficiency as to warrant them, even though favourably handicapped, competing with any interest to the onlooker, but this state of things cannot continue. The realization of it should induce and encourage some young girl who has opportunities of learning the game (and it is a studious undertaking) from a first rate and experienced tutor, to join the ranks of professionalism seriously. And there seems no reason from a physical point of view, or on the ground of prudery or false modesty, why she should not in due course take her place and become a peer of the greatest exponents among the men's professional ranks. The game requires no abnormal strength, no undue strain upon the system, and on this account is pre-eminent amongst games for cultivation and ascendancy by the fair sex.
To the amateur lady player the only incentive must be inclination and the fascination of the game for itself, but no reason can possibly be brought forward against the contention here made that it is the one game perhaps where the man has no advantage over the woman from a practical and physical point of view, and lady aspirants to fame in the sporting world should bear this in mind when contemplating how possible outstanding success in the world ou s'on amuse in some direction untrodden as yet but lightly by her sisters in sport, may be achieved.
There is a rapidly-growing feminine interest in billiards which seems now to be checked only by lack of opportunity; and this surely is a condition that can be remedied? Ten years efficiently employed could produce a revolution in the relation of women to the game, giving them a chance to master its technique and to show their mettle.
Opinion is divided as to the general capacity of women to play a good game of billiards, and in these days, of course, there are few who can. But while there is a great stretch of leeway to make up, until women have proved incapable it is not possible to prophesy failure. The pro's and the anti's on this question can only argue yet on probabilities, and these seem to be in favour of women playing as good a game as men if they are given the same opportunities.
To make this possible sufficient practice and efficient tuition must be brought within the women players' reach.
But while those over-influenced by usage and custom may hold the contrary view there is some evidence to show for the contention that women possess certain qualities which might give them the advantage in playing the game.
Take Edison's opinion. He declares that for fineness and accuracy of touch women are much to be preferred to men in a scientific laboratory. Apply that to the billiard room, and it means a lot in women's favour. Then all our scientists state that women are more fond of, and apt at, work requiring detail than men are. Here again you have a feminine advantage. The best billiards is the quiet, accurate play in which fine touch and accuracy of detail will go a long way and little physical strength is needed. The slapdash, hammer-and-tongs game, full of shocks and flukes, is going out—and going out quickly. Roberts killed it, and the younger; men are now engaged in burying it deep.
There is another feminine trait which ought to tell in favour of women in the billiard room. Did you ever notice that women rarely get interested in the mere play game? It is true. They are never really interested deeply in a sport unless it has some value in their eyes besides being a mere time-killer. They want sport to have a useful or an intellectual side. They play golf for exercise or health; they cycle to get somewhere; they swim to improve their figures. They don't feel able to waste time on an absolutely useless game without suffering from an uneasy conscience. And so the mere sports do not hold them. But in a sport that appeals to both brain and body they can get absorbed. They regard the development of an alert mind and a keen and accurate eye as something to the credit side of their life account, and they will engage in the sport that offers such training in a spirit of complete enthusiasm. They are beginning already, and any psychologist will tell you that this reason will count with them.