New Bells a Rare Treasure

To the editors:

I was disappointed by the negative and, frankly, trite responses from students interviewed in your article concerning the restored bells of St. Paul's Church (News, Feb. 17). In lieu of praise for the conservation of an unusual civic instrument was all-too-Harvardian whining. The sundry 15-minute strikes on bronze bells are treasured hall-marks of many European cities and universities, and those peals operate as any decent public time-piece should--24 hours a day. Sadly, in a culture such as ours (which values asphalt and chain-link over bronze), peals like those in the campanile of St. Paul's are a rare treasure indeed. At a university which prides itself on the diversity of its community and whose students rail against the homogenization of Harvard Square, it strikes me as somewhat hypocritical that this unique portion of the Square's melange should be so derided.

Bells are not the issue. Some people just don't like bells, and this does not upset me in the slightest. What does upset me is the vapid, parochial attitude the quoted comments illuminate and the kind of self-absorbed, self-preoccupied refutation of community and the communal experience they reflect. We treasure chain-link over bronze because we treasure ourselves over others. It is this underlying stripe of self-centeredness and introversion which taints our society (never mind our university) and keeps us physically and socially immured. CHRISTOPHER D.H. ROW   Feb. 17, 1998

The writer is a resident tutor in Kirkland House.