The Green caldron - University Library

6 The Green Caldron
the difference between polyethylene and real flesh? Frustration, long hours
of waiting, and endless tangles of nylon line will be the fate of that luckless
soul who dares invade nature's stronghold.
Nevertheless, I stay on, goaded by the masochistic quirk that exists inside
every fisherman. Without a doubt, I represent a magnificient triumph of
rationalization: I think I want to catch fish. Actually, I want to see if I
have enough sheer cussedness to last through the day without snapping my
rod over my knee and sending it flying over the side with my tackle-box
for company. If I manage to pull through with my sanity, I will pat myself
on the back and murmur, "Oh, it really wasn't anything much." Fishing
is neither a test of luck nor of skill ; it is a test of will. As a matter of fact,
there are few better ones ; few people are strong enough to pass it.
To the prospective fisherman, I offer these words of advice: when you
go fishing, go alone; provide yourself with some sort of adult pacifier, such
as a pipe, and once you are on the water, do not fish, but read a good book
or take a nap.
As for me, I am going home.
THE
The Seeker and the University
Mary I. Baumgart
Rhetoric 101, Final Examination
UNIVERSITY PROVIDES FOR ITS STUDENTS A
unique sort of existence. Entrance into the professed halls of learning
is not only a step up from the educational level of high school, but
also a step to the side, out of the mainstream of life. Campus life is full
of excesses, but they are not precisely the excesses of the world. They are
the excesses of the screaming high school basketball fan let loose in his sweat-
shirt and sneakers to cope with the sudden availability of formerly withheld
pleasures. They are the excesses of the true scholars whose biggest concern
is living close to the library. There is the concern of the seeker who tries
to reconcile his knowledge, his beliefs, and his operative theses. There are
those who have failed to understand, and those who are afraid of failing.
There are those who do not even know there is a search going on.
For the seeker, the task is clearly one of reconciliation. His job is to
organize the principles by which he ought to live. The seeker is not asked
or told to accomplish this feat ; he is far into it when the realization comes
that that is what he is doing.