Page:Samuel F. Batchelder - Bits of Harvard History (1924).pdf/367

 preserving his tips, he accumulated a snug property; indeed, he was reputed to be the richest negro in Massachusetts. Moreover, with a conscientious recognition of the sources of his wealth, he was always ready to place his funds at the disposal of the College. Many a hard-up student gratefully repaid at a later day a “small loan” from Dr. Charles; and the story goes that more than one professor in temporary financial difficulties was not too proud to grasp the helping hand of his dark-skinned brother in the educational vineyard.

For nearly a century the system of scouts was continued, each well-to-do student employing his own. By degrees the number of such unofficial hangers-on grew intolerable, and in 1879 they were superseded by regular janitors.

The commercial rôle in which Dr. Charles at first appeared is an example of another “side line” of University business which has produced many a character of purest ray serene. Doubtless even before the day of the enterprising Gibson, the Yard was infested with hawkers of light academic refreshment; and Simon, whether simple or learned, often met a pieman ready for his penny; but in 1800 the closing of the college buttery, where fruit and fancy groceries were sold for the special