ng along briskly; don't let it drag. You can 'put over' lots
of stupid stuff by rushing it on gayly, and a good 'stunt' may be good
for nothing if it goes slowly."

"Helen and Tom can't say that they 'never sing the old, old songs,' can
they?" laughed Ethel Brown. "The Club has never done anything yet that
we haven't heard these same sweet strains from both of them."

"You're very likely to hear them again--my chant, any way," declared her
sister firmly.

"It won't do us any harm," Ethel Brown yielded good-naturedly.

The boys had made the good ship _Jason_ with some ingenuity. The matron
had let them have a table, long and so old that the marks of boots upon
it would do no harm. This was important for it was to be used as the
forward deck. Because in the days of its youth it had been used in the
dining room of the smaller children it was lower than an ordinary table.
This made it just the right height, for the ship's rail was to rise
above it, and if it had been higher the people on the floor could not
have seen the deck comfortably.

At the end of the table was tied the mast--a broom stick with electric
light wires strung with tiny bulbs going from its top to the deck. This
electrical display was a contribution from Roger who had asked his
grandfather to give it to him for his Christmas gift and had requested
that he might have it in time for him to lend it to the _Jason_. It was
run by a storage battery hidden in a box that was safely bestowed under
the deck. Aft of the mainmast were two kitchen chairs placed side by
side to give the craft the needed length.

The outside of the boat was made by stretching a double length of
war-gray cambric from the bow--two hammock stretchers fastened to the
end of the table--along the deck, past the chairs and across their end.
The cloth was raised a trifle above the deck by laths nailed on to the
edge of the table. The name, "Jason," in black letters, was pinned along
the bow.

"It isn't a striking likeness of a boat," confessed Roger, "but any
intelligent person would be able to guess what it was meant to be."

When the children and a few other people who had begged to be allowed to
come entered the hall they found the ship lighted and with its deck
piled high with wooden boxes and parcels of good size. The members of
the U. S. C. were gathered beside the ship. When all had entered Helen,
as president of the Club, mounted one of the chairs which represented
the after par