Fictional history. Very short story about the encampment at Valley Forge, Pa. A letter home to his family by an infantryman in Gen. Washington's army, persuades Washington to cancel the letter he was writing to congress resigning his commission. In addition, he hears a disturbance that he is sure is the beginning of a mutiny. So he takes a walk through the encampment to investigate. The disturbance turns out to be merely soldiers playing cards. Another soldier tells him "Merry Christmas" and yet another tells him that conditions aren't so bad and that next Christmas the enemy will be the ones suffering. All these things combine to make Washington cancel his intent to resign his command.