With this he could prod the sloughs and ascertain their depth, or use it as a leaping-pole; and if threatened by sturdy rogues whirl it about their heads as a quarter-staff.
Wars and famines were then terrible realities--men's minds were full of them, and superstition flourished.

The foggers and shepherds saw signs in the sky and read the stars.

Down at Lucketts' Place one winter's night, when folk almost fancied they could hear the roar of Napoleon's cannon, the old fogger came rushing in with the news that the armies could be seen fighting in the heavens.

It was an aurora, the streamers shooting up towards the zenith, and great red spots among the stars, the ghastly stains of the wounded.

The old fogger declared that as he went out with his lantern to attend to the cows calving he could see the blood dripping on the back of his hand as it fell down from the battling hosts above.
To us the ignorance even of such comparatively recent times is almost incredible.