THERE are few things which admit of a wider difference than two billiard-rooms—one well regulated and well kept, the other badly ruled and carelessly looked after.
The preservation of the table, as regards ironing the cloth, brushing the table, keeping the cushions good, having true balls, straight well-balanced cues, with well made tops, requires that a marker, who has charge of a table, should be well acquainted with his work; and now that billiards is so much a science, every good room should have an efficient marker. But the etiquette of the billiard-room is a subject on which those who know little or nothing of the game should be informed, and from our own experience we are convinced that much ignorance exists in connection therewith, especially in the provinces, in small country clubs, and among the rising generation. Under these circumstances, we venture to offer a few remarks on the etiquette of the billiard-room.
When two gentlemen are playing at billiards, they are supposed to hire, not only the table, but the room, and the services of the marker. They pay a certain sum per game, or per hour, for these items, and they are, for the time being, fairly entitled to the uninterrupted use or each and all. The marker is their especial servant, and his duty is to mark the game, hand the rest, take the balls out of the pocket when a hazard is made, and act as referee if required. A marker who attends to the game can do nothing else at the same time. This being the case, we yet find in many billiard-rooms, and even in some clubs, that a gentleman will enter the room, at once call off the marker's attention from the game, and order him to get a brandy-and-soda, or beer, or change for a sovereign, and be quite unaware that he is commttitting as great a breach of etiquette as though he entered your dining-room and ordered your attending servant to run a message for him.
We were once at a local club, engaged in a match at billiards, on which several pounds were dependent, when the honorary secretary entered the room, walked straight to the marker's desk, and began questioning him about his weekly accounts, and we found our score left to take care of itself. Such a proceeding could only be due to gross ignorance of etiquette or simple impertinence. If you are compelled to employ the marker in any way, you should first ask the players if they have any objection to your marking the game whilst the marker does this or that for you; you then mark with care, hand the rest, &c., just as would the marker whose services the players are paying for. Such a. proceeding is not only etiquette, it is justice.
Every person, before entering a billiard-room, should either look through the holes cut in the door, for the purpose of seeing when a stroke is about to be made, or listen at the door, so as to enter the room when no player is aiming or making a stroke. In some places this necessary proceeding is entirely neglected, whilst in others a man will swagger into the room, and beg your pardon as he does so—an act somewhat similar to purposely treading on your toes and saying "Beg pardon."
When people sit in a billiard-room, they are supposed to do so in order to look on at the game; they should if possible sit, and remain quiet at least during the strokes.
Nothing annoys and puts off a player more than to have people walking about whilst he is aiming, Sometimes ignorant men will walk right in front of a ball a player is aiming at, quite unaware that they are doing the most likely thing to make a man miss his stroke. Sometimes men who are sitting down will amuse themselves by whistling tunes, and beating time with their feet, or sit swinging sticks or umbrellas about, so that it is quite impossible to fix the sight of the ball you are playing at; and such persons often seem surprised if you politely ask them not to dazzle you when you are playing.
We have actually seen, in more than one county club, three or four gentlemen stand in a group talking, so close to the table that the players have more than once had to ask them to move, in order to obtain room to make a stroke. Such downright vulgarity and want of consideration is unpardonable, and will of course never be practised except by those who are gentlemen only in name or position, but who have not the feeling or consideration of such.
We once lost a match of billiards by the act of a looker-on, which will serve as an example of breach of etiquette in a billiard-room. The game was 470 all, 500 up. We had a straight hazard in the right top pocket, the white ball was close to spot, so that a good break would be left if we potted the red, and, we should, undoubtedly, have won the game. Just as we were in the act of striking, one of the lookers-on, nearly in line with the red, lighted a fusee. The crack and sudden flash of light caused us to miss the hazard, and we left a break from which our adversary made game—the result being a difference of £20 to ourself, and £100 to one of our backers. Such an act was probably committed through stupidity or ignorance, but it would serve such persons right if they were required to pay a certain portion of the stakes.
In some billiard-rooms one never sees a game played without an immense amount of chaff going on, both between the players and the lookers-on. In friendly clubs this is the case very often; such proceedings, however, too often lead to brawls or unpleasantness, and no real billiard-player or lover of billiards ever adopts such a course.
It is the marker's duty, at the slightest hint from the players that noise or chaff is objectionable, to strike his rest on the floor so as to attract the attention of the visitors, and call, "Order, if you please, gentlemen." Such a proceeding will in almost every case produce the desired result, unless there are roughs in the room, or those who ignore all courtesy or etiquette; and when such should be present, the sooner they are taught manners the better for them, and the more agreeable for the law-loving company.
There is another item which is more a matter of delicacy of feeling than of actual etiquette—that is, taking or occupying the table. In almost all clubs or subscription rooms, members put down their names for the table and play their games in order. Each person has a right to take the table in order, and the question is whether this right is always to be exercised. We will suppose two gentlemen are playing, that they are first-class amateurs, that either may be able to make forty or fifty off the balls, and they both play soundly and well. They commence a game, and shortly after Smith and Brown come in, and both put down their names for the table.
Smith and Brown are two absolute duffers, who score mainly by flukes. In ten minutes the amateurs have scored their game, and Brown and Smith take the table from them. After twenty minutes' play their game is called thirteen to eighteen, and long before this the good players, disgusted at the exhibition, and finding other equally as inexpert players have put down their names, quit the billiard-room. Now, in how much better taste it would have been for the duffers to decline taking the table till the good players had played two or three games and to have looked on at good play, and tried to learn something. It seems hardly fair, also, that two good players, who occupy only about twelve minutes over a game, should have to give up play after one game, and then have to wait for forty-five minutes for the table whilst two bad players amuse themselves nearly four times as long at the same cost.
In our younger days, though we played a fair game, we never dreamed of taking away the table from some good player, but preferred looking on and trying to learn something of the game. The rising generation, however, appear to ignore such etiquette, and to be anxious only to exhibit their awkwardness; at least, we have seen so many examples of such proceedings, that we feel compelled to make these remarks.
That billiards is a healthy indoor game; that it brings out the various qualities of eye, hand, head, and nerve, cause it to be deservedly popular, and as it is now so generally played, we venture, as an old performer, to offer these few remarks on the etiquette of the billiard room for the benefit of those whose experience of a well-conducted room is not extensive, and who commit acts which every good billiard-player looks on as unpardonable.