Many a college student has perhaps wondered what under the sun drove the Mediaeval youth to walk across whole nations with his possessions on his back in order to hear lectures by the savants of that time. But if modern youths found themselves in the same case, that of having no books, newspapers or magazines, they would be quite as eager to learn of the world and other people and themselves, however far they had to travel. Not until one begins to imagine the horrible possibility of being marooned on a desert island does one realize the debt owed to Gutenberg and Alden and their successors. Immediately one rushes to the book-case to choose the most lasting friends, and perhaps hastens to lay in a stock of tobacco. For it is a truth that he who can read for pleasure is well fortified against the vicissitudes of life.

To afford the opportunity for making such friendships is one of the first obligations of a university. Here there is Widener with a stock of books, manuscripts and treasures so remarkable that few undergraduates realize its wealth. Yet there are many varieties of books and various reasons for reading them. With all the advantages of upper Widener and the Farnsworth room the atmosphere is one of more or less industrious labor. Widener Library is not a comfortable place for "just reading".

One sanctuary still remains, however, into which too evident efficiency, watchful attendants and blazing lights have not intruded. In the Union Library there are good books, new as well as old: there are comfortable chairs in which one may stretch out unhampered by decorum; books which are always in use at Widener can be found free here; and smoking is quite in order.