BILLIARD TABLES

THE past week has been a trying one, not merely to things animate, but to things inanimate; and among the latter there are perhaps few that require more constant care, forethought, and attention than a good billiard table. Let any one contrast a first-rate table in some public billiard room in London, such as W. Cook's, with the billiard table as it is too often met with in some private house in the country, where there is no one who understands its management.

Too often persons who set up a new billiard table in a private house, treat it exactly as a child treats a new toy; at first they cannot make too much fuss with it. They brush the cloth as if it was some lady's velvet mantle, from off which they had to gently move the dust, instead of thoroughly getting out the chalk. As to the iron, so fearful are they of injuring the cloth, that instead of properly heating it they do little more than take the chill off. After a time, however, they tire of the table, which is left to take care of itself.

Persons have a vague idea that if a table is not played on it does not want anything done to it. This is, however, a fatal error. We will suppose, then, the table to have been left to itself for a month or so, and that one week it has experienced weather similar to what we have undergone during the past one.

Compare now this table with what it was when it first came from the maker's hand. The cloth is moist and sticky, and the balls make a noise as they roll. The cushions seem to have lost all their elasticity, and when struck appear to be composed of wood. The fact is, the more perfect the work, the more startling and the more evident is the stamp of neglect. The most perfect of created objects is mankind, and perhaps no contrast is so painful as that of a well-fed and highly-educated child from one of those wondrous specimens that haunt us and make us tremble when we think that our own offspring would be as such but for care and education. We will, however, take a parallel case in created nature somewhat more to the point, and that is the well-groomed horse and the rough colt.

If the owner of a billiard-room would treat his cloth as he does his horse's coat, we should have fewer of these unplayable tables.

There are so many points to be considered in the management of a billiard table that we can but glance over them without entering into details.

We will suppose, therefore, that a billiard table in every respect perfect is taken to a new room. What are the causes that will lead to its deterioration, and what can be done to counteract these causes?

First we will take, as probably the most seasonable cause—cold. It is astonishing how many persons, from pure ignorance, injure their tables from allowing them to get absolutely frozen. There are many old gentlemen throughout the country who would stand aghast at the idea of leaving a bottle of 1834 port exposed to a temperature of 28 degrees, and yet they think nothing of allowing their billiard tables to receive an injury from the same cause that in a pecuniary point of view is far heavier. In a public room, where the owner knows the importance of keeping his table in perfect order, the gas is often left burning all through a frosty night, in addition to the ashes being thrown up on the fire the last thing before the room is left.

Perhaps one of the simplest and at the same time most economical methods of preventing the cushions being injured by cold, is to have a small gas-stove placed by the side of the table, not underneath, as the latter method has a tendency to warp the woodwork from the unequal action of the heat. An india-rubber tube connected with one of the burners will be found quite sufficient for the purpose, and those who have calculated the cost of one burner for one night will see how little need be expended in order to keep the table perfect.

The past week has been so severe that we feel confident that what we have written will meet the eyes of some who find their cushions, so to speak, as hard as iron. One word of warning, therefore.

Get some persons to remedy this defect who understand their business. To put a billiard table out of order in the hands of an ordinary carpenter or cabinet-maker is as disastrous and as foolish as sending a good watch to be mended at a blacksmith's, or placing an aneroid barometer out of order in the skilful hands of an itinerant tinker.

Of the various diseases to which billiard tables are subject, one of the most fruitful causes is damp. Now often new tables are placed in equally new rooms, in which the lath and plaster is still moist. Here, again, a good and well-seasoned table will resemble a box of good cigars in first rate condition; the cigars may be all right, but then they require keeping so. Exposure to damp will cause them to become soft and limp and unsmokable, and an excess of damp will as assuredly warp the best seasoned wood of which a table may be composed.

When the woodwork becomes really warped, no course is open but to take off the slates and have the bed of the table re-planed and levelled afresh, a work that none but the best experienced workman can perform.

Another important, and at the same time oft-neglected point in the management of a billiard table is, brushing the cloth directly play is over, and not leaving the table dirty all night for the dirt to soak into it. It will often be found that markers will at the end of an evening's play throw the cover over the table and leave it till the next day to be brushed and cleansed. In all cleansing operations it will be found that it is far easier to do a thing at once than to postpone it; and a billiard cloth is no exception to the general rule. The ironing of the cloth, however, is best done in the morning, and where the cloth has a tendency to get damp, as in some neighbourhoods and in some seasons of the year is inevitable, the effect of the hot iron is almost magical. Let the marker, or the one who looks after the table, however, bear in mind the importance of thoroughly brushing the cloth before he uses the hot iron.

These little details of management after all come easy to those who are possessed of an ordinary amount of common sense. The object in view is to obtain as smooth a bed on which the balls may roll as possible. Let those, therefore, who doubt the utility of going through so much trouble, visit their own laundry and observe the effect of a hot iron over linen that laundresses call rough dried. The smoothing effect of the iron is so palpable that they will probably return to their billiard room wiser for their visit.