Billiards was brought to America by the Spaniards who settled St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. While we have no direct evidence, it is very safe to assume that the English gentlemen, so familiar with the game in the home land, who colonized Virginia in 1609, were not long in introducing it in Jamestown. There is also every reason to believe that the French colonists in Maryland and Canada let no great time elapse before importing tables and equipment into those colonies. In the days of Cromwell, billiards had been tabooed by the Puritan, not on moral grounds, but rather political. Billiards was the game of the aristocracy and the Puritan hated not only the aristocrat, but the style and color of his clothes, the cut of his hair, as well as the games he played. Doubtless this attitude was carried to America by the New England colonists, and only when those colonies had been diluted by the injection of other social groups did Puritan prejudice die and billiards enter into their recreational life. However, there is no doubt that by the latter part of the seventeenth century the game was universally played in the United States. From that time to the present the tide of popularity for billiards as the premier indoor game has been steadily rising. Unlike most things in the affairs of men, billiards has not developed at either end of society, thus working toward the opposite extreme; but it began at both ends and worked towards the middle. In the early days we witness the strange spectacle of the game being indulged in by the wealthy and leisurely class on the one hand, and the idle and vicious on the other. It is easy to understand why. The first group was the logical extension of the old-world aristocracy. The second group lived in an age when the great middle class was struggling for a foothold in a new country. Men had very little time and disposition for play, and this, coupled with the remnants of Puritanic influence, left the game in the hands of those who lived by their wits rather than work. From these two extremes, therefore, the game began to work toward the great middle classes. In process of time recreation became a necessity, until today it is considered a duty. Men learned to play and, casting about for a game worthy of them, naturally laid hold of billiards. Toward this desired result the Y. M. C. A. and church clubs have contributed greatly. They have broken down much of the illogical prejudice against the games, and have shown the public-room keepers that billiards can flourish under good and healthful conditions. As the game became more universally played, a better class of billiard-room keepers entered the commercial field, thus helping to eliminate the incompetent and vicious.