Text Leveling System

Drinking Gourd, The: A Story of the Underground Railroad

RDQ:	1178	Max Word/Sent	47	Total Words	2051		Diff Words	581
Lex	780	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	1351	65.9%	Hi freq	249	42.9%
AR	3.9	Long Sentences	4.7	Low Freq occurs	89	4.3%	Low freq	51	8.8%

Follow the drinking gourd 
Follow the drinking gourd 
for the old man is waiting 
for to carry you to freedom 
If you follow the drinking gourd. ]]
When the sun comes back 
and the first quail calls 
Follow the drinking gourd 
For the old man is waiting 
for to carry you to freedom 
If you follow the drinking gourd. 
The riverbank will make a very good road 
The dead trees show you the way 
Left foot peg foot traveling on 
Follow the drinking gourd. 
The river ends between two hills  
Follow the drinking gourd 
There's another river on the other side 
Follow the drinking gourd.
 Where the great big river meets the little river  
Follow the drinking gourd 
For the old man is waiting for 
to carry you to freedom 
If you follow the drinking gourd. ]]
Chapter one 
Fishing in church 
Tommy Fuller put his right hand 
in his pocket. 
There was his apple. 
Then he put his left hand 
in his other pocket. 
There was his ball of fishing line. 
"Quit wiggling!"
 whispered his brother Sam. ]]
"Sit up straight!" 
whispered his brother Andy. 
It was late afternoon. 
The three boys were in church. 
They had been there all day long. 
Mother and father were downstairs 
with Grandmother Dudley 
and the rest of the grown-ups. ]]
All the children sat upstairs 
in the gallery. 
The girls were on one side. 
The boys were on the other. ]]
Across the way Tommy saw his sisters - 
Helen Kate and Rachel. 
Tommy took a big bite of his apple. 
Then he took three more bites. ]]
Out of the window 
he could see a flock of geese 
pecking at the grass 
on the village green below.  
"Let us sing Hymn Two Sixty-three" 
said the minister Reverend Morse. ]]
Everyone stood up. They sang 
"Oh God our help in ages past 
our hope for years to come..." 
Tommy reached for his fishing line. 
He tied one end around the apple core. 
"You'll be sorry!" said Andy. 
Tommy opened the church window 
and threw out the apple core. ]]
Three geese waddled over 
to see what it could be. 
A goose picked on the apple core. 
"Come on goose!" said Tommy. 
The second goose clamped the core 
tightly in her wide bill. ]]
Tommy tugged on the line. 
The goose rose up into the air. 
"Got her!" said Tommy softly. 
The goose squawked and fluttered. 
She would not let go. 
All the other geese hissed 
and squawked and cackled too. 
They made such a racket 
that the noise filled the church. 
Everybody stopped singing. 
Reverend Morse looked up at the gallery. 
"Deacon Fuller" said Reverend Morse
"I'm afraid it's Thomas again." 
Father stamped up into the gallery. 
"Thomas Dudley Fuller" he said 
"Turn that thing loose!" 
Tommy dropped the line. 
The goose fluttered to the ground. ]]
Father let Tommy out of the church. 
"You march straight home sir" 
said Father" and go to your room." 
Then he went back into the church 
and banged the door behind him. ]]
Chapter two 
The runaways 
Tommy walked along thinking of spankings. 
It was dark when he reached home. 
Tommy could see the evening star. 
He went to the barn 
to say hello to the horses. 
Father had named them 
Dan'l Webster and Henry Clay.
Tommy gave them each an apple. 
"You don't have to be good in church 
do you?" Tommy said. 
The horses stamped and snorted. 
Tommy saw the hay wagon 
piled high with hay. 
He wanted to jump from the hayloft 
down into all that hay in the wagon. ]]
So he climbed into the loft. 
"Hi Dan'l Webster! Hi Henry Clay! 
Look at me!" he hollered. 
Then he jumped into the hay wagon. 
Two hens squawked. 
Something in the dim loft said "A-a-a-anh!" 
It sounded like a baby crying. 
"Who's there?" said Tommy. ]]
Dan'l Webster stamped his hoof. 
Tommy climbed back into the loft 
to see what had made the noise. 
"Who's there?" Tommy hollered. 
"Stop right there!" said a deep voice. 
"You won't take us alive!" 
A black man stood up covered with hay. 
He had an axe in his hand. ]]
Tommy was so frightened 
he fell back into the hay. 
"Oh my goodness Vinnie" 
said the man. "It's only a little boy." ]]
The man dropped the axe he held. 
"We just hiding" he said smiling. 
"We won't hurt you." 
"Does Father know you're here?" 
said Tommy. "What - 
what are you doing in our barn?"]]
"Is Deacon Fuller your daddy?" 
Tommy nodded his head. 
"He hid us here" said the man. 
A little boy stood up beside him. 
"That's my boy Little Jeff" 
said the man. "I'm Big Jeff. ]]
This is my wife Vinnie. 
And this is Baby Pearl. 
We running away!" 
"Running away?" said Tommy. 
"We going to Canada" said Vinnie. 
"We up from Carolina" said Jeff. ]]
"We been following the drinking gourd 
every step of the way." 
"The drinking gourd?" said Tommy. 
"What's that?" 
"Shoot boy!" said Little Jeff. 
"You mean you never heard of the 
drinking gourd? I'll show you." 
Little Jeff jumped down from the loft 
and ran to the barn door. 
Up in the wintry sky shone the stars.  
Little Jeff pointed to the Big Dipper 
caught in the branches of an elm. 
"That's the drinking gourd!" 
"No that's the Big Dipper" said Tommy. 
"Same thing!" said Little Jeff. 
"The front end of the drinking gourd 
points straight up to the North Star. 
Follow the North Star and you get to Canada. 
Get to Canada and you be free!" ]]
"Thomas Dudley Fuller!" said Father
from the shadows. "Didn't I tell you
to wait in your room?"
"Father!" said Tommy surprised.
"I - I found Jeff and Vinnie and -"]]
"I see who you found.
You found all my passengers" said Father.
"Don't ask any questions.
Help hitch up the horses.
We've got to get started."]]
Chapter Three 
On the Underground 
Railroad 
Tommy and Father sat in the wagon. 
Jeff and Vinnie and Little Jeff 
and Baby Pearl were hidden in the hay. 
They were driving toward the river. 
"I been a slave all my life Tommy" 
said Jeff sitting up in the hay 
"until two weeks ago. 
That was the day I decided ]]
we would run away to Canada 
on the underground railroad." 
"The underground railroad?" said Tommy. 
"Shoot boy!" said Little Jeff. 
"You never heard about that neither?" ]]
"You see Tommy" said Father
"the underground railroad isn't
a real railroad with steam engines
and tracks and cars.
It's a secret group of people
who believe slavery is wicked.
They live in homes and farms like ours]]
stretching from her to Canada.
Everybody in the group
hides people like Jeff and Vinnie
helping them get away."
"And they got stations on the
underground railroad" said Little Jeff.
"Like our barn!" said Tommy.]]
"And they got conductors" said Jeff. 
"Like me!" said Father. 
"And they got passengers!" said Vinnie. 
"Like us!" said Little Jeff. 
"They call it underground" said Father 
"because it's a secret. 
Every bit of it has to be secret!" 
"You right" said Jeff. "We 
valuable property. My old master 
lost $2500 when he lost us 
if he lost a penny." 
"Then I'm sure he'll send some men 
to try to catch you" said Father. 
"So you get back down under that hay." 
"Nobody's going to catch me" said Jeff 
"as long as I got my axe." 
Then Jeff and Vinnie and Little Jeff 
and Baby Pearl all hid from sight. 
Reward 
Ran away from his Master Maynard Reeves 
Bond of Larkspur Plantation on the Edisto 
River Dorchester County South Carolina a 
black fellow about 30 years of age named Jeff 
6 feet two inches high wearing a brown wool 
jacket and denim breeches. Last seen hereabouts 
on October 15 1851. Accompanying the 
runaway are his wife Lavinia age 28 and two 
children Jeff 9 and Pearl 1. Whoever shall take 
up these four runaways and return them to their 
above said Master shall have $250.00 reward. All 
Masters of Vessels and others are hereby 
cautioned against concealing or carrying off 
said Servants on Penalty of the Law.
 Charleston S. C. Oct. 21 1851 ]]
"Tommy" said Father 
"don't say a word to anybody 
about what happened tonight. 
Jeff's a brave man. 
I'd hate to see a brave man 
sent back into slavery. Promise?" 
"I promise" said Tommy. ]]
"Whoa hosses" said father. 
"This is the end of the line. 
I have to find the boat now. 
It's hidden here on the riverbank." 
Father walked into the darkness. 
A whippoorwill called. ]]
Chapter Four 
The Searching Party 
Tommy heard hoofbeats on the road. 
He saw lanterns bobbing. 
Four men on horseback rode up 
to the wagon and stopped. 
The men got down from their horses. 
"Say young fellow" said the leaders 
"I'm a U. S. marshal. These are my men. ]]
We're going to search that wagon. 
We're looking for runaways." 
"Runaways?" said Tommy. 
"A Negro slave" said the marshal 
"his wife and two children." ]]
"There's a reward for them.
You wouldn't have them hidden
in that wagon would you boy?"
Tommy's mouth was dry.]]
"You won't find anything but hay
in this wagon" he said.
"Mebbe we better search it anyway"
said the marshal.]]
Tommy was scared. 
He thought about Little Jeff 
and the others hidden in the hay. ]]
If the marshal found them 
he would send them back down South! 
They would have to be slaves! 
They would never be free! ]]
"Marshal" said Tommy "I guess 
I better tell you about it. 
You see I'm Tommy Fuller 
and I'm running away myself." 
"You Deacon Fuller's boy?" 
said the marshal. 
"That's right" said Tommy. 
"Pshaw!" said the marshal. 
"This is the boy made all that fuss 
in church this afternoon. 
Fishing for geese!" ]]
All the men laughed. 
"Father was boiling mad" said Tommy. 
"He was going to give me a licking. 
So I ran away." 
"We're chasing the wrong wagon boys" 
said the marshal. ]]
"You better go home to your pa Tommy 
and take your licking." 
"Yes sir" said Tommy. 
"And next time you go fishing" 
said the marshal "tell you pa ]]
I want you to catch me two ducks 
and a nice fat turkey. 
That's an order." ]]
All the men laughed. 
Then they rode away. ]]
Chapter Five 
Over the River 
Father came out of the shadows. 
Jeff and Vinnie sat up in the hay. 
Jeff's axe was still in his hand. 
"Tommy you did just fine" said Father.  
"I thought the marshal would find us 
sure enough this time" said Jeff. 
Tommy was too scared to speak. ]]
"Take the wagon back alone Tommy" 
said Father. "We have to row 
across to the next station." 
Little Jeff jumped into the boat. 
Jeff jumped in too. He helped Vinnie 
and Baby Pearl get settled. 
A whippoorwill called. ]]
Father started rowing away. 
Tommy heard the dip and splash ]]
of the oars in the water. 
"Good-bye Little Jeff" Tommy whispered. ]]
"Good-bye" whispered Little Jeff. 
"Good-bye" whispered Jeff and Vinnie. ]]
Father rowed into the darkness 
and then the boat was gone. ]]
Chapter six 
The lawbreakers 
It was late when Tommy got home. 
Everyone was asleep but Mother. 
She gave Tommy some supper. 
"Is Father all right?" said Mother. 
Tommy told her what had happened. 
Then she sent him put to bed. ]]
But Tommy stayed awake 
waiting for Father to come home. 
He heard the front door slam. 
Then Father came up to his room. ]]
"Tommy" said Father 
"I believe in obeying the law. 
But you and I broke the law tonight. 
The law says we were wrong 
to help Jeff and Vinnie get away." ]]
"I know Father" said Tommy. 
"But can't you change the law?" 
"I've been trying" said Father. 
"We've been trying for years and years. 
Someday it will be changed. ]]
But right now the law says 
Jeff and Vinnie are another man's property - 
property same as a horse or a cow 
property worth $2500." 
"But Jeff and Vinnie are people" 
said Tommy. ]]
"Yes" said Father. "That's why 
I can't obey that law. 
That's why I hate it. 
It's wrong!" 
Then he kissed his son good night 
and closed the door. ]]
Tommy lay in bed thinking about 
Little Jeff and the others. 
"If they just get to canada" 
he whispered "they can be free..." 
Out of his window he could see 
the bright North Star. 
And pointing up to it 
in the dark night sky 
sparkled the drinking gourd.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Some Long/Complex

Text structure: Difficult

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Chapters

Headings

Author's purpose: Obvious

Features

Integral Setting - Historical

Figurative Language

Topic

Sky

Travel/Traveling

Stars

*History

Values

Overcoming

Danger

Freedom

African Americans

Slavery

Helping

Moving

*Citizenship & Laws

Low Frequency Words

accompanying	breeches	chasing	dan'l	deacon
dorchester	dudley	edisto	engines	fellow
freedom	fuller	fuller's	gourd	hereabouts
hereby	hollered	hymn	lanterns	larkspur
lavinia	mebbe	obey	obeying	passengers
pearl	penalty	plantation	property	pshaw
racket	reeves	reverend	reward	riverbank
rowed	rowing	runaway	runaways	servants
shone	slavery	spankings	stations	valuable
vessels	waddled	webster	whippoorwill	wintry
worth