I subscribe to a magazine called Billiards Digest (this kid was working his was through college and I thought I'd help him out, and the photography in there is excellent) and each issue has a feature called "Chronicles" which discusses the history of the sport. The story in the May issue reminded me of the time Elmo and Emmett wanted to use church funds to buy a pool table to put in the church basement (... "And the losers buy the beer!") Speaking of that episode, if the building has a basement, how could the foundation have been sinking on one side? That makes no sense. But I digress.
Anyway, throughout the history of billiards, many religious leaders have denounced the sport for various reasons. According to this article, a swing in the other direction happened in 1913, when an Illinois preacher named J. F. Milnes published a book entitled "The Church and the Young Man's Game," advocating that churches everywhere should install pool tables. Rev. Milnes declared "There is a magnetism about billiards for the young man. He cannot resist the game...Why abandon all the most highly evolved games to the devil? Why not place billiard tables in the churches and provide an environmental salvation for the young men instead of sending them to questionable places to play?" I'm not so sure about Rev. Milnes' argument, but I couldn't help of think of Mayberry's All Souls Church when I read the article. Paul Mulik Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
