MARK TWAIN IN FRANCE

Mark Twain, the famous American writer, was travelling in France. Once he was going by train to Dijon. That afternoon he was very tired and wanted to sleep. He therefore asked the conductor to wake him up when they came to Dijon. But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. “I’ll probably protest loudly when you try to wake me up,” he said to the conductor. “But do not take notice, just put me off the train anyway.”

Then Mark Twain went to sleep. Later, when he woke up, it was night-time and the train was in Paris already. He realized at once that the conductor had forgotten to wake him up at Dijon. He was very angry. He ran up to the conductor and began to shout at him. “I have never been so angry in all my life,” Mark twain said.

The conductor looked at him calmly. “You’re not half so angry as the American whom I put off the train at Dijon,” he said.