College Abandons Hand-Rung Bell Amid Protests Against '1984' Trend

A dynasty has quietly fallen.

The Memorial Church bell, which human hands have tolled for 311 years, has fallen prey to the modern ago and will soon be operated entirely by automatic control.

Students, whom the bell has always summoned to class, need no longer entertain the enticing doubt that one day the bell might not ring. It always will.

Looking at things from the other fellow's point of view, bell-ringers Harold Allen and Harry King, who will soon be losing their titles, need no longer live in dread of forgetting their daily chores.

More conservative members of the Harvard community, who may fear this innovation as still another step toward "1984," will be even further aggravated to learn that the Memorial Hall bell, which strikes the hours flawlessly, was also quietly converted to automatic control in 1951. Some aroused students have even considered petitioning the authorities, claiming that gadgets such as electrically operated bells remove the element of human fallibility, which is what makes life interesting.

The new "swinging-bell ringer," as it is called, will take a few months at most to install, the "Harvard Alumni Bulletin" reports. The device will be operated by a motor in the Memorial Church steeple and a mechanical brain in the basement, known as a "program clock," which tells the mechanism when to ring.

Through the years, the University has been "improving" its bell system little by little. In the early 1800's student pranks forced the Corporation to remove from public access the chain which rang the bell. Even then, authorities were careful lest more diligent pranksters find a way to disrupt nocturnal slumbers and daily routine.

The new system eliminates all doubt. Henceforth, 10,000 men of Harvard will know for whom the bell tolls.