Well, we have seen the ladies at billiards, and both Miss Ruby Roberts and Madame Strebor did very well, all things considered. The time of year was very much against them, and as they only played for a couple of days it is scarcely fair to regard their display as anything more than an experiment. As such, it must be reckoned successful, as it proved that the fair sex can play billiards of good quality in charming and pretty style.
It was a treat to watch the ladies at the table. There was no hesitation, no surveying the table for prolonged periods before attempting a stroke; and in this respect at least Miss Ruby Roberts may fairly be compared with her great namesake. But we cannot, as yet, carry the comparison very much further, as the young lady in question has a great deal of billiards to master before she can be depended upon to make breaks of a hundred with commendable regularity.
But there is really no reason why Miss Ruby Roberts should not eventually make hundred breaks fairly often. She has exceeded the century on several occasions at practice, and at Thurston's Grand Hall she made a couple of breaks of over sixty in decidedly attractive fashion. This young lady plays a very open game, and scores losing hazards quite in accordance with the accepted professional methods. She is an adept at fine losing hazards, and with practice she should develop into a player of real class.
At present, as far as we could see, Miss Ruby Roberts has no special liking for the winning hazard, and while we looked on she made no attempt to play the top of the table game. As a rule, she lost control of the balls through badly judged strength; and we fancy that a little excusable nervousness prevented her from doing herself justice in this respect. But, taking everything into consideration, we can honestly congratulate the young Australian lady on making a promising debut, and we hope to see her playing again in public on many occasions. But she must strive earnestly to make those hundred breaks, as it is a big question whether even a charming young lady can find a public for billiards which is not sprinkled with a fair number of three-figure compilations.
As a spectacle, from a purely artistic point of view, the show presented by the ladies must be voted an unqualified success. In addition, they played a very sporting and enterprising game. Safety tactics were conspicuous by their absence, and even the familiar white winner and double baulk was not exploited on several occasions when the strict letter of the game called for its execution. Neither of the ladies attempted very much in the way of spectacular strokes depending for their effect on an inordinate amount of screw or side on the cue-ball, although Miss Ruby Roberts made a number of well-judged cannons off several cushions which showed considerable knowledge of the angles of the table, and Madame Strebor manipulated several difficult "jennies" in a style worthy of ať first-class professional.