yer," he added, after a pause--"won't yer, please, sir, spell dat
word out fur me slow tell I writes it down 'fo' I forgits it?"

[Illustration: "'WON'T YER, PLEASE, SIR, SPELL DAT WORD OUT FUR ME
SLOW?'"]

Reaching deep into his trousers pocket, he brought forth a folded scrap
of tobacco-stained paper and a bit of lead-pencil.

Notwithstanding his fondness for the old man, there was a twinkle in
Marshall's eye as he began to spell for him, letter by letter, the
coveted word of power.

"R," he began, glancing over the writer's shoulder.

"R," repeated Reub', laboriously writing.

"A," continued Marshall.

"R-a," repeated Reub'.

"T," said the tutor.

"R-a-t," drawled the old man, when, suddenly catching the sound of the
combination, he glanced first at the letters and then with quick
suspicion up into Marshall's face. The suppressed smile he detected
there did its work. He felt himself betrayed.

Springing tremulously from his seat, the very embodiment of abused
confidence and wrath, he exclaimed:

"Well! Hit's come ter dis, is it? One o' ole marster's chillen settin'
up makin' spote o' me ter my face! I didn't spect it of yer, Marse
John--I did not. It's bad enough when some o' deze heah low-down
po'-white-trash town-boys hollers 'rats' at me--let alone my own white
chillen what I done toted in my arms! Lemme go home an' try ter forgit
dis insult ole marster's chile insulted me wid!"

It was a moment before Marshall saw where the offence lay, and then,
overcome with the ludicrousness of the situation, he roared with
laughter in spite of himself.

This removed him beyond the pale of forgiveness, and as Reub' hobbled
off, talking to himself, Marshall felt that present protest was useless.
It was perhaps an hour later when, having deposited a bag of his best
tobacco in his coat pocket, and tucked a dictionary under his arm,
Marshall made his way to the old man's cabin, where, after many
affectionate protestations and much insistence, he finally induced him
to put on his glasses and spell the word from the printed page.

He was not easily convinced. However, under the force of Marshall's
kindly assurances and the testimony of his own eyes, he finally melted,
and as he set back the candle and removed his glasses, he remarked, in a
tone of the utmost humility,

"Well--dat's what comes o' nigger educatiom! Des let a nigger git fur
enough along ter spell out c-a-t, cat, an' r-a-t, rat, an' a few Fus'
R