It will be a fraternal kindness to teach him that with all his light and culture, he does not know all the valuable things; and it will also be a fraternal kindness to him to complete his education for him--and I shall do this on Friday, and send him home in that perfected condition.
I possess a billiard secret which can be valuable to the Dooley sept, after I shall have conferred it upon Dooley--for a consideration.

It is a discovery which I made by accident, thirty-eight years ago, in my father-in-law's house in Elmira.

There was a scarred and battered and ancient billiard-table in the garret, and along with it a peck of checked and chipped balls, and a rackful of crooked and headless cues.

I played solitaire up there every day with that difficult outfit.

The table was not level, but slanted sharply to the southeast; there wasn't a ball that was round, or would complete the journey you started it on, but would always get tired and stop half-way and settle, with a jolty wabble, to a standstill on its chipped side.