Lowell Lures with Bells, High Table

In Lowell House nobody bothers you if you want to be left alone. But if you like to make new acquaintances, as most people do, there are more students to meet in Lowell than in any other House.

As Housemaster Elliott Perkins '22 puts it, in Lowell nobody "will force you to dance around the maypole," as though in tribute to that illusive deity, House spirit. But if you're one of the 180 men entering Lowell House next year, you'll join a diverse company of 435 men and a witty housemaster.

On the temporal side, Lowell offers showers with every room and seven squash courts in the basement. It has attractive rooms, although a fair number of them are rather small.

Lowell is only a short distance from the Yard and local shopping centers. Its two courtyards are large, full of trees, and pleasant to walk through.

Large Record Collection

Music-lovers will find the largest lending-library of records in the College and a florishing music society, which produces the famous Lowell House operas. Scholars will find a 12,000-volume library, which is especially strong in classics, French, English, German, and the arts.

It's a popular misconception that men with high grades get more preference at Lowell than at other Houses, according to Perkins. Students are picked to obtain a "cross-section" of the student body, he says. If the Lowell House authorities can't pick a representative sample out of first choice applicants, Perkins says they'll start taking second-choice men.

High Table

Every Monday night the tutors, guests, some students, and the Housemaster don dinner jackets and eat on the dias at the end of the dining hall. This custom is called high table; another Lowell tradition is the lighting of a yule log at the annual Christmas dinner.

Every Thursday afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Perkins serve tea and cucumber sandwiches to the people in Lowell who come to see them.

Before the war Lowell held 290 men. Now the roster has swelled to 450, but de-conversation will gradually decrease this figure until the projected post-war level of 370 is reached.

One of Lowell's most distinctive features is the set of bells that came from Russia and now rest just under the blue dome House tower. Freshmen entering Lowell will learn more about these bells some quite Sunday morning next Fall.

In spite of the "cross-section" approach of Perkins, Lowell has a reputation of having a great many students who win high academic honors. Any list of new Phi Heta Kappa members is certain to contain a good representation from Lowell.ELLIOTT PERKINS '23--Lowell