# Help with a Hemingway short story

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-hemingway-short-story/290084>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 14, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-hemingway-short-story/290084 "2005-02-14T21:25:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-hemingway-short-story/290084/1 "2005-02-14T21:25:11Z")

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I happened to remember this one from high school recently. Pretty meager info:

1. I think it takes place during the Spanish Civil War
2. There are lots of refugees mentioned
3. The story is mostly a conversation between an old man and a soldier/guard.

Anyone???

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-hemingway-short-story/290084/2 "2005-02-14T22:00:26Z")

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Was it an excerpt from “For Whom the Bell Tolls”?

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-hemingway-short-story/290084/3 "2005-02-14T23:56:04Z")

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Perhaps “The Old Man at the Bridge.”

It opens:

> [@](#):
>
> An old manwith steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river an carts, trucks, and men, women and children were crossing it.

Only three pages in my copy of the first forty-nine.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-hemingway-short-story/290084/4 "2005-02-15T15:37:12Z")

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Many thanks, Doc!

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-hemingway-short-story/290084/5 "2005-02-15T23:19:22Z")

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> [@DrFidelius](#):
>
> Perhaps “The Old Man at the Bridge.”
> 
> It opens:
> 
> Only three pages in my copy of the first forty-nine.

That collection of short stories is the best, IMHO. Ernie had more than his share of problems as a person, but those stories are just amazing. The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is the best short story I have ever read…

And I have a first edition of that collection, too!!