“On the floor Tien Pao had held Beauty-of-the-Republic tightly against him, while with his other hand he'd twisted his cap into a prop to shove into the bullethole through which the river water came welling. He had lain on the prop to keep the water from pushing it out again, and he'd lain half over the baby sister to shield her if the airplanes and the bullets should come again.”

—  Meindert DeJong , book The House of Sixty Fathers

The House of Sixty Fathers (1956)

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Meindert DeJong 18
American children's writer 1906–1991

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