would count, and when Jim dropped in in the
afternoon he asked his opinion. "Of course, you see, I can't do much
of anything, but I'd like to help a little," he said.

"Count?" said Jim, the despiser of trifles; "of course it does;
everything counts."

He told the boys and Aunt Zelie about it at the next meeting of the
G.N. Club. "I can't help feeling sorry for the little fellow; I never
thought before how hard it would be not to be able to do things like
other people, but just sit still and be waited on; so I told him I
thought it would count. Don't you think so?" Jim looked at Aunt Zelie
appealingly, half afraid the boys would laugh at his soft-heartedness.

"I certainly do," she answered, and Will said, "There are a great many
things he could do, I am sure. Did he ever show you his scrap-books?
They are beautifully done. He could make some smaller ones for the
hospital."

"Why couldn't we make him a member of the Order? He would be so
pleased," said Jim.

"He couldn't come, could he?" asked Ikey, not meaning to object.

"Why couldn't he?" said Carl; "some of us could carry him over as
easily as not."

"I say let's talk it over with the girls and have him here next
Friday," said Will.

The girls entered into it willingly. "Of course he ought to belong,
for he made us that beautiful motto," said Elsie.

"And we must get up something interesting for him," said Louise, who
with Jim was on the entertainment committee.

Aunt Zelie consulted Mrs. Armstrong and found she was not willing to
let John go out at night, so the time of the meeting was changed to
Friday afternoon. Nothing was said to John himself till that morning,
when Carl stopped in on his way to school to invite him.

"Could I go? Do you think I could go, Mother?" he asked eagerly, and
from then until lunch time he lived in delightful anticipation.

After that the minutes dragged till three, when the boys came for him,
and the journey from the parsonage to the star chamber was easily
accomplished. This apartment presented a festive appearance, decorated
with flags and bunting which had done service in one of Aunt Marcia's
numerous charitable entertainments.

"You see, John," Louise explained as soon as his chair had been placed
in a corner from which he could see everything, "Aunt Zelie said we
ought to have colors for our Order, and I thought, and so did Bess
and Dora, that red, white, and blue would be nicest, because they are
the colors of o