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Ch. 1: The Drowsy Valley Segment 1 of 9
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Washington Irving's short story is one of the quickest complete reads in the library, but it is not necessarily quick to type accurately. Irving's sentences run long and descriptive, especially in the opening scene-setting, and the Dutch names — "Ichabod Crane", "Katrina Van Tassel", "Brom Bones" — demand deliberate letter-by-letter entry rather than predictive typing. The story builds toward the famous midnight chase across the bridge, so pacing shifts from leisurely description to short, urgent sentences right at the end. At around 12,000 words it is completable in one or two sessions, which makes it a good choice when you want to finish an entire book in a sitting rather than commit to a multi-week project. Progress saves automatically after every passage.
Also try: Dracula · Frankenstein · All 20 books
This practice set contains 3 passages from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, split into 9 typing segments — about 695 words, roughly 17 minutes of typing at 40 WPM. Your position saves in your browser after every segment, so you can stop and resume without an account.
The dominant spirit that haunts this enchanted region is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper whose head had been carried away by a cannon ball in some nameless battle of the Revolutionary War. The body of the trooper was buried in the churchyard, and the ghost rides forth in nightly quest of his head. The country folk call him the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.
— The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving