The robins are back. They are spread all over the muddy lawn, with their tiny heads bobbing in queer, jerky movements as they locate the juicy earthworms underground. They are the true harbingers of spring, and their coming announces that winter has really departed.
Spring is tip-toeing through the hills. She tenderly touches the twigs on the trees, and the buds begin to swell. Her sunbeams are coaxing the coltsfoot to bloom; those wee gold flowers that brighten the road banks and ditch lines. Green grass springs up where her feet lightly tread, and she smiles upon the songbirds as they build their nests. The coming of spring is a heartening thing, as we shake off the winter doldrums and fresh sap runs through our veins.
The March wind is drying up winter’s mud and soggy soil, making way for gardening time and early lettuce beds. No matter how many times a person has experienced the coming of spring, it is just as new, and just as welcome as the first one we can remember. The appearing of the first morel mushrooms are a cause for rejoicing. Whether you call them “muggles” or “Molly Moochers” or even “merkles”–they are delicious!
Dayton Reynolds of Sugar Land, Texas, (born and raised in WV) sends us a poem that his dad, Shelby Reynolds used to quote in the spring. Dayton thinks that he probably learned it at the one room school house on Goose Creek, Island Branch, WV. I found the entire poem, author unknown.
SPRING VOICES
“Caw! Caw!” says the Crow,
“Spring has come again I know
For as sure as I am born,
There’s a farmer planting corn.
I shall breakfast there, I trow,
Long before his corn can grow.”
“Quack! Quack! Says the Duck,
Was there ever such good luck!
Spring has cleared the pond of ice,
And the day is warm and nice,
Just as I and Goodman Drake,
Thought we’d like a swim to take.”
“Croak! Croak” says the frog,
As he leaps out from the bog;
“Spring is near; I do declare,
For the earth is warm and fair,
Croak! Croak! Croak! I love the spring,
When the little birdies sing!”
It will soon be time for the spring plowing; preparing the soil for planting time. I love to watch the plow slice cleanly through the ground, leaving the long curl of rich earth upturned behind. There was always the tangy smell of smoke in the air when Daddy plowed. He burned off the bank above the garden and the garden itself. When he burned winter’s debris, he felt that he was ridding the ground of pests and weeds. The smoky smell of dry weeds combined with the warm, earthy fragrance of fresh-plowed ground was the very essence of spring. Fat robins would hop along behind the plow, grabbing the hapless earthworms before they could bury back in the ground.
The plowing went on and on, row after row, burying deep underground the accumulated debris of last year. The dead, dry leaves, the remnants of last summer’s garden, the stubble–all disappear under the cutting edge of the plow, forming a foundation for this year’s crop. I always think of how God performs this work in our own hearts, through the cutting edge of His Sword. If we will bring our disappointments, our heartaches and our burdens to Him, He will plow them under and form a base for a more caring, concerned heart.
Out of our own troubles and heartaches will come a deeper compassion and a greater love for others. Sometimes, out of the depths of our burdens, we cry, “Why me, Lord?” The answer comes clearer as the days go by. God has given us the gift of salvation, not only that we might enjoy it ourselves, but that we might help others.
In II Cor. 1:3-4 we read, “Blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation; that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God. And as the plow goes on, you can feel the dross and weight fade away and peace take it place. Getting down in the good earth seems to bring a person closer to God.
We’ve collected a few more old sayings and homespun dialect. I was talking to a granddaughter-in-law and she told me that they’d had a repairman fix one of their appliances, and it was doing the same thing again. I told her she’d have to make him come back and “lick his calf over.” She responded, “Huh?” I said, “You mean you’ve never heard that before?” When a cow has a newborn calf, she licks it all over. It simply means to go back and do the job over.
Another granddaughter was mystified when I told her “someone had stretched their blanket.” It merely meant that person had exaggerated, or stretched the truth. I remember Mom saying that someone had “pearted her off” when they gave her a smart answer. And by the way, where did the term “smart Alec” come from? We used that a lot when I was a kid. I’ve always loved “I never heerd tell of the like” when confronted with a strange situation.
Marilyn Bibb of Charleston sends a recipe that is good for one person. Use two boxes of cake mix–any flavor, but one must be angel food. (She used white supreme along with the angel food.) Put both boxes in a wide mouth jar and shake to mix well. Use three tablespoons of mix, two tablespoons water and mix well. Microwave one minute and top with fresh fruit, canned fruit, chocolate syrup or anything you wish. She used cherry pie filling and pronounced it delicious!
SPRINGTIME
By Gertrude Tooley Buckingham
Gentle Spring’s around the corner,
Waiting just to show her face,
And to bring us flowers and sunshine;
Winter’s almost run his race!
Be not, then, my friends, discouraged,
That there’s cold and ice and sleet;
For Springtime soon will be with us,
And the flowers we will greet:
Daffodils, so bright and yellow,
Hyacinths of varied hues,
As they nod their heads in gladness,
Telling us they bring good news.