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

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

The sergeant has acquired, from
unknown sources, a brace of small, skinny, fresh-killed pullets; eight
fresh eggs; a big loaf of the soggy rye bread of the field mess; and
wine unlimited. Also, we are told that at nine o'clock we are to start
for Brussels--not by automobile, but aboard a train carrying wounded and
prisoners northward.
Everybody cheers up, especially after ma-dame promises to have the fowls
and the eggs ready in less than an hour.
The Belgian photographer, who, it develops, is to go with our troop, has
been brought in from the guardhouse and placed with us. With the
passing hours his fright has increased. Gerbeaux says the poor devil is
one of the leading photographers of Brussels--that by royal appointment
he takes pictures of the queen and her children. But the queen would
have trouble in recognizing her photographer if she could see him now--
with straw in his tousled hair, and his jaw lolling under the weight of
his terror, and his big, wild eyes staring this way and that.


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