§  1136.  Quiet  Billiard-room  and  Bowling-alley.  —  In  a  New  York
case  it  seems  to  have  been  laid  down,  that  keeping  a  billiard-
room,  without  noise  disturbing  the  neighborhood,  does  not  come
within  this  description  of  offence.^  But  the  reader  need  only
consult  the  authorities  cited  to  the  last  section  to  see,  that  this  is
not  the  general  doctrine  ;  for  youth  may  be  as  effectually  lured
to  vice  by  a  noiseless  process  as  by  any  other.  -A  bowliug-alley
is  as  harmless  as  a  billiard-table ;  yet  the  doctrine  appears  to  be,
that  even  a  common  bowling-alley  is  a  nuisance  indictable.^

§  1137.  How  Public.  —  To  constitute  a  common  gaming-house,
not  all  persons  need  have  access  to  it ;  if  it  is  open  to  people
generally,  that  is  sufficient.^

Lucre.  —  The  language  of  some  of  the  cases  implies,  that  the
house  must  be  kept  for  lucre  ;*  but  we  have  seen,^  that,  by  the
better  doctrine,  the  motive  of  lucre  is  not  a  necessary  ingredient
in  this  class  of  offences.     And  —

Ownership.  —  It  is  iramaterial  whether  the  keeper  of  the  house
is  the  owner  of  the  building  or  not.^


frequently  impaired  or  destroyed.  Bowl-
ing-alleys, without  doubt,  may  be  re-
sorted to  by  many  p^sons  without  such
injurious  results.  The  inquiry  is,  not
what  may  be  done  at  such  places  without
injury  to  persons  of  iixed  habits  and
principles,  but  what  has  been,  in  the  ex-
perience of  man,  their  general  tendency
and  result.  The  law  notices  the  usual
effect,  the  ordinary  result  of  a  pursuit  or
course  of  conduct,  and  by  that  decides
upon  its  character."  Shepley,  C.  J.,  in
The  State  v.  Haines,  30  Maine,  65.
