THE EIGHT HOUSES

A House means many things to many people. There are those who live completely in and for their House; there are others who consider it little more than a hotel; and there are yet others who tread the middle ground. It is perhaps typical of Winthrop that it has all three types in abundance.

Winthrop is a House of variations, and the balance of these types is not the least of the variations. The hackneyed phrase "cross-section of the College" is true to a large degree in Winthrop, and as a result the Harvard virtue of toleration for other types and other interests has become a particular Winthrop virtue. There certainly is no one type that crowds the stage and thus directs the play.

Perhaps one typical Harvard type is missing: the "arty" group. Winthrop has its share of bright and serious students, but it has somehow failed to attract men of HDC and Advocate bent. If it has failed, it is not the fault of Housemaster Ronald M. Ferry or his able, energetic Senior Tutor, Daniel S. Cheever. For Ferry has attempted to adhere closely to the original concept of the House system.

Perhaps as a consequence, last year Winthrop was the most popular first choice among the Class of 1957.

The character of a House is an elusive thing at best, but perhaps the dining hall atmosphere can define it. The Winthrop dining hall is decidedly informal, relaxed, and above all, noisy. A low ceiling and large square columns down one side box in and concentrate dinner table conversations. As a result, an atmosphere of stuffiness and formality can hardly survive.

Most of the tables in the dining hall are four-seaters. After a meal has been served for a half hour, however, you would never know it. Winthrop men have come and gone, pulling chairs from here and there, gathering in larger and larger groups. This informality extends to relation with tutors, for it is a race day indeed when two or more tutors are seen eating together.

Among the residents here is a quit interest in the House activities. Winthrop always has good, but seldom outstanding, athletic teams; it puts on a traditional musical comedy in the spring: and it stages several dances, including a number of mixers with local girls' colleges during the course of the year.

What is now Winthrop House once was two separate freshman dormitories Standish and Gore Halls. While Winthrop could still be two separate worlds, the dining hall in Gore and the library in Standish serve to unity the House. To a Winthrop man the only consideration of where be lives is the distance to dinner.

Generally, the rooms are spacious but the overcrowding present in all the Houses has forced Ferry to make several triples into quadruples. There are no showers in the modern stage of the word, but shower contains get up in the old bathtubs satisfy all but the very clearly.

Two large common rooms, and television and pool rooms are among the physical assets of the House. If the dining hall is small and noisy, the library is large quiet, comfortable, and invariably well populated.

Present size of House--412 Vacancies for freshmen--129. Types of rooms available--singles, none; doubles, seven; triples, 23; quadruples, eight; quintuples, two, Price range per man pr term--doubles, $130-$275; triples, $150-205; quadruples, $115-$170; quintuples, $115- and $145.