No, these woodland flowers are not blooming yet (this photo dates from 2012), but if March 1 has passed, spring won't be far behind.
Back in the spring of 1928, when Highway 34 through Lucas County still was dirt, The Chariton Leader's Henry Gittinger drove out west to Lucas on Saturday, March 24. At that time, the highway --- known more grandly by many as the Harding Highway --- jogged north to cross the railroad tracks in the vicinity of old Cleveland and proceeded through Lucas on Front Street.
As he neared the village limits, Henry glanced south from his somewhat elevated vantage point and spotted Cornelius T. "Doc" Goben and his crew preparing to sow oats in the White Breast Creek bottoms. The result was the following Gittingeresque tribute to spring:
EARLY SPRING IN THE VALLEY
"Doc" Goben Began Activities on the Whitebreast Last Saturday, a Sure Sign
"There is a sure sign of spring, a harbinger that one may bet his money on and win. It is not the flight of robins across the landscapes or the warm sunshine beaming down on the hillsides --- or the 20th day of March ladened with the zephyrs which have a suspicion of budding trees and blooming flowers. These are signs but they are not sure signs.
"It may be sufficiently long after the flight of geese to the northern nesting lands, on the borders of the lakes, still there may be a winter's relapse, squalls accompanied by spits of snow and night freezes.
"The true evidence of spring is when "Doc" Goben, of Lucas, gets into action. Spring never slips after he starts.
"Last Saturday he began movements in the bottom lands. The big tractor was steamed up, and attached to the disc and soon long black belts began to form their lengths and widths of pulverized earth. The mule teams and the horse brigades were called out and the seeders began to broadcast like the conquest of a mighty army. The whistles blew, the neighing steeds pranced in their traces, while the muleteers cracked their ships and the he-haws resounded the plain.
"By the time sunset had arrived, reflecting the shadows of woodlands in the transparent waters of the inland rivers, and the golden streamers had festooned the heavens in drapery effects to the zenith, forty acres had been sown to the harvest. Spring has arrived.
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