Mark Twain 
Remarkable Instances of Presence of Mind 

The steamer Ajax encountered a terrible storm on her down trip from San Francisco to the Sandwich Islands.  It tore her light spars and rigging all to shreds and splinters, upset all furniture that could be upset, and spilled passengers around and knocked them hither and thither with a perfect looseness.  For forty-eight hours no table could be set, and every body had to eat as best they might under the circumstances.  Most of the party went hungry, though, and attended to their praying.  But there was one set of ‘seven-up’ players who nailed a card-table to the floor and stuck to their game through thick and thin. 

About the author

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),   known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer.