told you that i would give you a lower berth sir i can give you one now i have just got a message that the person who had lower two will not want it hold on then i ll take that lower called the man who had spoken before over the crowd i spoke for it first no you won t said the captain who went on writing the man pushed his way in angrily a big self fellow he was evidently from his first what s that i did i say i was here before that man got here and asked you for a lower berth and you said they were all taken the captain stopped and looked at him my dear sir i know you did but this gentleman has a lady along � x tp � i how the captain made christmas but the fellow was angry i don t care he said i engaged the berth and i know my rights i mean to have that lower berth or i ll see which is bigger you or mr just then a lady who had come out on the steps spoke to the captain about her seat in the car he turned to her my dear madam you are all right just go in there and take your seat anywhere when i come in i will fix everything go straight into that car and don t come out in this cold air any more the lady went back and the old fellow said nick go in there and seat that lady if you have to turn every man out of his seat then as the porter went in he turned back to his friend now my dear sir you don t mean that you d be the first man to give up your berth this gentleman has his sick wife with him and has been ordered to take her south immediately and she s going to have a lower berth if i turn every man in that car out and if you were mr himself i d tell you the same thing the man fell back baffled and and we all enjoyed it still i was without a berth so with some i began captain he turned to me oh you want to go to new yes to spend christmas any chance for me he looked how the captain made at his watch my dear young sir he said go into the car and take a seat and v do the best i can with you i went in not at all sure that i should get a berth this of course was only a part of what went on but the crowd had gotten into a good humor and was joking and i had fallen into the same spirit the first person i looked for when i entered the car was of course the sick woman i soon picked her out a sweet frail looking lady with that fatal transparent hue of skin and fine complexion she was all up although the car was very warm every seat was either occupied or piled high with bags well the train started and in a little while the captain came in and the way that old fellow straightened things out was a revelation he took charge of the car and ran it as if he had been the captain of a boat at first some of the passengers were inclined to but in a little while they gave in as for me i had gotten an upper berth and felt satisfied when i up next morning however we were only a hundred and fifty miles from washington and were standing still the next day was christmas and every passenger on the train except the sick lady and her husband and the captain had an engagement for christmas dinner how the captain made somewhere a thousand miles away there had been an accident on the road the train which was coming north had jumped the track at a and torn a part of it away two or three of the had been hurt there was no chance of getting by for several hours more it was a blue party that assembled in the dressing room and more than one cursed his luck one man was talking of the company i was feeling pretty gloomy myself when the captain came in well gentlemen christmas gift it s a fine morning you must go out and taste it he said in a cheery voice which made me feel and better at once and which brought a response from every man in the dressing room asked promptly how long we should be there can t tell you sir but some little time several there was a groan you ll have time to go over the battle field said the captain still cheerily we are close to the field of one of the bitterest battles of the war and then he proceeded to tell us about it briefly he said in answer to a question that he had been in it on which side captain asked sir with some surprise in his voice on which side � on our side sir of course we decided to go over the field and after breakfast we did r how the captain made the captain walked with us over the ground and showed us the lines of attack and defence pointed out where the heaviest fighting was done and gave a account of the whole campaign it was the only battle field i had ever been over and i was so much interested that when i got home i read up the campaign and that set me to reading up on the whole subject of the war we walked back over the hills and i never enjoyed a walk more i felt as if i had got new strength from the cold air the old fellow 