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Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury), 1876-1944

"Paths of Glory Impressions of War Written at and Near the Front"

But there was no German relic in the lot
--you may be sure of that. Farther down, where the sunken road again
wound across our path, we passed an old-fashioned family carriage jammed
against the bank, with one shaft snapped off short. Lying on the dusty
seat-cushion was a single silver teaspoon.
Almost opposite the carriage, against the other bank, was a cavalryman's
boot; it had been cut from a wounded limb. The leather had been split
all the way down the leg from the top to the ankle, and the inside of
the boot was full of clotted, dried blood. And just as we turned back
to return to the town I saw a child's stuffed cloth doll--rag dolls I
think they call them in the States--lying flat in the road; and a wagon
wheel or a camion wheel had passed over the head, squashing it flat.
I am not striving for effect when I tell of this trifle. When you write
of such things as a battlefield you do not need to strive for effect.
The effects are all there, ready-made, waiting to be set down.


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