George still remains on the Graham plantation, but you would scarcely know him--he coughs no longer; he stands erect and is becoming strong and sturdy; he has found himself, and no one will ever again have cause to say to him, “You coward!” THE GREAT SPELLING MATCH. There was no doubt about it,--of all the little colored boys and girls who went to the Peabody school, Margaret was the dullest. Her teacher said so, her friends said so, her parents were of the same opinion, and if asked herself, Margaret would undoubtedly have frankly acknowledged that her undisputed and proper place was at the foot of the class. Her brother Charles, who was one year younger than she, had proudly graduated from the fifth grade and was making rapid progress in the sixth. He did not spend one-half the time studying that Margaret did, and yet when it came time for recitations, he would stand up and recite in a manner that warmed his teacher’s heart and made him the envy of most all of his schoolmates. [Illustration: AN EXCITING MOMENT.] If Margaret was backward in her studies, little Mable Green certainly was not. Arithmetic, geography, writing, reading, she excelled in all of them. She was a very bright little colored girl and a very good looking one, too. Mable knew this just as well as all of the boys and girls did,--she was not exactly foolish and vain, but she had been so praised and petted by her school friends and teachers that she was inclined to be a little conceited, what we all would call “stuck up.” Once a month a prize was given for the scholar who stood highest in certain studies, and Mable had twice been the successful pupil,--she had two highly prized silver medals to show for her skill. Now one of the members of the school board was a farmer about forty years of age, kind-hearted, but a little old-fashioned. He believed in boys and girls knowing how to read and write and spell correctly, but he did not care for what he called the “new-fangled” ideas of some of the other members of the board. He was very much opposed to a course in music and elocution that was being considered by the school board, and did not hesitate to let every one know how he felt about it. Now he knew Mable and liked her--he was very much interested in the way in which she stood at the head of her classes and wanted to do something to encourage her in sticking to the old-fashioned forms of education. He thought over this for a long time, and finally decided to hold a spelling match. Now you all probably know what a spelling match is. Two sides are chosen who stand up on opposite sides of the room, and the teacher give out words, commencing at the head of the row,--any one who misses a word has to sit down, and the last one to stand up wins the prize for his side, also is pronounced the best speller and gets the personal prize.