Text Leveling System

John Henry

RDQ:	694	Max Word/Sent	25	Total Words	1199		Diff Words	488
Lex	680	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	684	57%	Hi freq	175	35.9%
AR	3.1	Long Sentences	0.6	Low Freq occurs	63	5.3%	Low freq	46	9.4%

A hush settled over the hills. The sky swirled soundlessly round the moon. The river stopped murmuring, the wind stopped whispering, and the frogs and the owls and the crickets fell silent all watching and waiting and listening. Then the river roared. The wind whispered and whistled and sang. The frogs croaked, the owls hooted, and the crickets chirped. Welcome, welcome. Echoed through the hills.]]
And John Henry was born, with a hammer in his hand. Bang. Bang. Bang. Rang little John Henry's hammer through the cabin, as he crawled about. What's that Rascal up to now? His mother chuckled. And before she knew it, he was big enough to help her around the house.]]
As he grew up, he did a man's work with his father. One day John Henry thought, I'm taller and stronger than anyone around. It's time I went out into the world. He said goodbye to his mother and father, and off he went. He worked on farms and in cotton fields. But all that was too tame. So he got himself a job on a riverboat.]]
 One stormy night the ship plowed through the darkness. Suddenly the big steel rod that turned the paddle wheel broke. Smash. With the rod through the bottom of the ship. Pump water. Shouted the captain. Get to port before we sink. John Henry leaped to the paddle wheel crank. He seized it,]]
pushed, grunted, and pulled. Slowly the giant wheel turned. With all his strength he kept it turning. Lord almighty, help us, someone whispered in that long, dark night. Day broke. They cited shore and pulled into port. A thunderous cheer went up for John Henry.]]
John Henry felt a new excitement in the air. Men were talking of railroads being built from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They're going to lay those tracks over rivers, across prairies and deserts, and right through mountains. And through Indian lands and stampeding Buffalo herds, and Badlands. Goodbye, boys, Cried  John Henry. I'm going to swing me a hammer On them beautiful new tracks.]]
My hands are just itching to hold a hammer again. John Henry said. He tried one for size, and laughed. It sure does feel fine. How he drove those spikes, singing to the clanging of his hammer. The men joined in, their voices singing, hammers ringing. John Henry's gang was in the lead. Day after day the tracks moved steadily westward.]]
Rising across their path was a sprawling mountain range. Its snow capped peaks reached high into the clouds. We'll have a tunnel through, said his friend l’il bill. It'll be awful dangerous. Could be cave Ins, someone put in. That suits me fine, said John Henry. Me, 2, added l’il bill. Here's how we'll do it, boys, the foreman called out.]]
A couple of men’ll drive a hole into the rock. Then the powder men’ll put dynamite into the hole and explode it. The others’ll cart the loose rock away. We'll do this again and again until we have a tunnel right through this mountain. And it's goin’ to be a real big tunnel, boys. Big enough for a giant locomotive pullin’ one of them long strings o’ trains. All right, boys, blast away.]]
Deep into the mountain they worked. John Henry's singing echoed through the tunnel. The powder man got ready to blast more rock. They filled a hole with dynamite, put in a long fuse, and lit it. Run, men. Cried the foreman. They all scrambled back, ready to dash clear of the blast.]]
At that instant came a great cracking and rumbling and the entire tunnel trembled around them. It's a cave in. We're trapped. There was no place to run. The fuse burned closer to the dynamite. John Henry was nearest the fuse. He ran to put it out but tripped and fell.]]
Ooooh, I'm hurt bad, he groaned. I can't get up. The fuse burned farther out of reach. Others rushed toward it, but they were too far away. Suddenly John Henry remembered he still had his hammer in his hand. Down came the hammer. Smack. On the burning tip.]]
The fuse went out, danger passed. Size of relief filled the smoky tunnel. Whew. Help me up, boys, mumbled John Henry. Clearing their way through The Cave in, the man carried him to safety.]]
Some days later they heard an unfamiliar clatter. Down the tunnel came a group of men with a strange machine. This is a steam drill. It can drill more holes faster than any six men combined, a new man bragged. Who can beat that?]]
John Henry stepped forward. Try me. He and l’il bill took their workplaces. John Henry gripped his hammer. l’il bill Clutched his steel drill. Check the machine, came an order. A nervous hand fell on the switch. In the dark both sides waited for the signal to start. A hoarse voice counted, one,two .]]
Three. The machine shrieked as it started. John Henry swung his hammer. The crash of steel on steel split the air.]]
Clang. Bang. Clang. The drill got red hot in l’il bill’s hands. He quickly dropped it and picked up another. Hiss. Whistle. Rattle. Men frantically heaved coal into the hungry, roaring engine and poured water into the steaming boiler.]]
Whoop. Clang. Whoop. Bang. John Henry's hammer whistled as he swung it. Chug, chug. Clatter. Rattled the machine. Hour after hour raced by. The machine was ahead. Hand me that twenty pound hammer, l’il bill. Harder and faster crashed the hammer. Great chunks of rock fell as John Henry ripped hole after hole into the tunnel wall. The machine rattled and whistled and drilled even faster. French doused John Henry and l’il bill with cold water to keep them going.]]
Then John Henry took a deep breath. He picked up two sledge hammers, and sang: ain’t no hammers strike such fire. Strike like lightning, Lawd, and I won't tire. Hammers like this, Lawd, there's never been. I'll keep swinging ‘em, Lawd, until we win.]]
John Henry swung both mighty hammers faster and faster. He moved so fast the men could see only a blur and sparks from his striking hammers. his strokes rang out like a great heartbeat.]]
At the other side of the tunnel the machine shrieked, groaned and rattled, and drilled. Then all at once it shook and shuddered wheezed and stopped. Frantically men worked to get it going again. But they couldn't. It had collapsed. John Henry's hammering still rang and echoed through the tunnel with a strong and steady beat.]]
Suddenly there was a great crash. Light streamed into the dark tunnel. John Henry had broken through. Wild cries of joy burst from the men. Still holding one of his hammers, John Henry stepped out into the glowing light of a dying day. It was the last step he ever took. Even the great heart of John Henry could not bear the strain of his last task. John Henry died with his hammer in his hand. If you listen to the locomotives roaring through the tunnels and across the land, you'll hear them singing. Singing of that great steel driving man John Henry. Listen.

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Simple

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Features

Retelling of story/fable/legend

Onomatopoeia

Topic

*History

Heroes

Legends

Low Frequency Words

almighty	badlands	blur	cited	doused
echoed	foreman	frantically	fuse	goin
gripped	grunted	hammering	heartbeat	heaved
herds	hoarse	instant	l'il	lawd
locomotives	men'll	murmuring	others'll	pacific
prairies	pullin	rascal	riverboat	scrambled
seized	sledge	smoky	soundlessly	sprawling
stampeding	steadily	streamed	suits	swirled
thunderous	unfamiliar	westward	wheezed	whistled
workplaces