Page 50 - The Adventures of a Freshman

The Cannon is the centre of the front quadrangle and the hub of the campus life. At half-past twelve o'clock
all the morning lectures and recitations of both upper and lower classes are over, and no one has anything
immediate to attend to. The next day, by the time the bell in the Old North had finished announcing the noon
hour, nearly the whole university found it convenient to be in the neighborhood of the Cannon.

Old Jimmy Johnson, the ancient negro fruit-and peanut-vender, stood beside the Cannon, against which
leaned his wheelbarrow heaped high with a mass of small orange-and-black objects, and over them waved an
orange banner on which were two big black letters, C. C. That was all there was to look at; and old Jimmy
was as silent and bored-looking as ever.

The crowd drew nearer. The orange-and-black things were small pasteboard boxes, shaped like miniature
bricks. On one side of them was printed these words, "Made from the purest materials, in the most careful
manner, by a secret receipt in the possession of Fraulein Hummel of New York." On the other side appeared
the words, "Delicious College Caramels, five cents a box," and on either end, "C. C." Old Jimmy kept on
looking solemn and silent.

At first the crowd seemed inclined to laugh--not at Jimmy or his load so much as at themselves, for being so
worked up over a small affair. "Is that all it is?" everyone thought, and some noisy Sophomores began to
shout, in loud voices, "Sold!" "Leg-pull! Leg-pull!" "Let's go," said someone else; "all over!"

But curiosity had been whetted too strongly during the past fortnight not to have it satisfied as fully as
possible. Besides, the boxes looked very neat, and the simple inscription on them sounded very attractive.
Also it was several hours since breakfast; a number of fellows were observed to swallow something when
reading the word "delicious."

First, three jocular Juniors, who prided themselves on always doing as they pleased, strode over to Jimmy's
wheelbarrow, arm in arm, announcing to everybody as they did so, "We are going to have some C. C. We
must have C. C.," and bought a box, which they proceeded to open, and the contents of which they
ostentatiously and with much smacking of lips devoured before the assembled crowed.

"Oh, we like C. C.!" shouted the three Juniors. "Give us some more, Jimmy," and then they marched through
the crowd munching and saying, "We are the first to see C. C. We are the first to see C. C. Three cheers for C.
C.!"

By this time several other Juniors, grinning to show they, too, were joking, went over to the wheelbarrow and
put down five cents each.

Then other Juniors, then some of the Sophomores--who always like to do what Juniors do--and after that a
few Freshmen, made bold to approach the wheelbarrow, and finally even a Senior or two, "just to see what
they were like, anyway," sampled C. C., and they immediately stopped looking superior and remarked, "By
Jove, they are good! Try them."

That was what everybody seemed to think, for within half an hour old black Jimmy, who almost turned white
making change, found his wheelbarrow empty, and went toddling off to have it replenished; while the
undergraduate body of the University of Princeton strolled off to its mid-day meal, chewing.

Two of the crowd who lagged behind seemed pleased about something, and one was quietly punching the
other in the ribs, and saying: "Well, well! Deacon, well, well! Your little scheme is certainly working, in spite
of my prediction. I hope it will keep on working."

"Stop punching me, Lucky!" the Deacon said, but he laughed excitedly in spite of himself. "It'll keep on
working all right, you see if it doesn't. There wasn't any good candy here, and all this needed was an