Gung-Ho Din

Now that the Lowell House bell-ringers have at last revealed their plans for more efficient organization, it is time to stop for a moment. Who are these people? What are they trying to do?

The first question is easy enough to answer. The Lowell House Bell-Ringers are a small group of people who like to ring bells. And they have some very nice bells to ring. Their Russian set of zvon--as opposed to carillion or conventional ding-dong--bells consists of seventeen clangers weighing between 22 pounds and 13 tons. Up to now, at 12:30 on Sundays and once every other week before the famed "high table," the bell-ringers have gotten some nicely coordinated noise from their bells in the cloud-cuckoo-land over Lowell House.

So much for the known facts. What idea drives these manic bell-ringers? This is a more difficult question. Their aim in organizing is, according to their constitution, "to improve the quality of performance." This, of course, would be silly, as anyone with ears knows. The performance on the Lowell House bells is, currently, of good quality. This pale excuse conceals their real aim--noise: more of it.

Although this is not necessarily a Bad Thing, it must be remembered that noise is not necessarily a Good Thing. Already, Cambridge ears are be-labored by noise from running water in the morning, subways at night, and Lambrettas in between. Especially obnoxious is the Lamont bell-buzzer. Slick operating, inevitable, and indigenous to the "Lamont atmosphere," it is as well hated as anything at Harvard. Of similar pernicious tendencies, the constitutionalizing Lowell House Bell-Ringers must beware.

To the sum of Cambridges noises the Lowell House bells add their bit. But as denizens of Lamont know, planned noise is not as pretty as just noise.