FOR WHOM THE BELL CHIMES

The new bells and gleaming gold clock hands at St. Paul's church are a welcome addition to the Mt. Auburn community of Adams, Lowell and Quincy, houses normally grouped with the River houses. Now, for better or worse, instead of the awkward "Tommy's Houses" moniker which these three houses have earned, they can be called the Bell Houses.

Chiming every 15 minutes in the sing-song pattern of church bells worldwide, we at Dartboard were at first reminded of sitting on European plazas on summer days, far from work.

But now as we sit in our rooms to study, the bells only remind us of how little we are getting done. Time chimes by all too loudly as we check our email, munch on popcorn and surf the day away online. They're not loud enough to distract us totally--in fact, their harmonious scale is a vast improvement over the atonal Lowell House bells on Sunday afternoons. Nevertheless, we now find ourselves with a new procrastination excuse: searching for the as-yet-unseen bells can be a welcome alternative to finishing that problem set.

Now, if you are in a section in one of these houses, your TF will no longer see you surreptitiously glancing at the clock; you'll know how many tolls you are away from freedom. With the bells joining the large clocks in the Square and the Memorial church bell, we no longer need to wear a watch. If they could only synchronize....