But John wanted to be a real helper. He thought about it a great deal,
but everything was done for him; there seemed to be no chance.
One day he noticed a lot of magazines which his father had been
looking over, and left lying on the floor when he was suddenly called
away. They belonged on the lower shelves of the bookcase, and it
occurred to him that he might replace them. He rolled his chair over
to that side of the room, and with a good deal of effort put them
back in order on the shelves. Then when Dr. Armstrong thanked his wife
that evening for putting them away, and she answered that she had not
even seen them, John had the great delight of surprising them. It sent
him to bed with a happy heart. However, next day he began to doubt
whether so small a thing 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.
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