Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/274

 name of the person whose intentions are being tested. The tongs must now be placed in a hollow portion of the fire, where the heat is most intense, and if both pippins fly off on the same side the parties will be married, if on opposite sides there will be no union; and if both burn together, without flying off, the gentleman will never propose to the lady who is placed beside him.

WEATHER WISDOM generally to be sought among the farming population. Their out-door avocations lead them to observe the states of the atmosphere, and they have treasured up many items of weather-lore, which embody much close and continued observation. Some of these scraps have been thrown into rude rhymes; easily remembered, and are handed down, without much alteration, from generation to generation. Frost on the shortest day is said to indicate a long winter:—

Eclipses are popularly believed to have great influence on the weather for many months after the events. During the late wet season (1872), it was frequently remarked that the eclipse on June 6th had "shaken the weather all to pieces." When the Aurora Borealis is visible, rough winds and heavy rain are expected to follow in a few days; this appearance is also said to indicate war, especially when the displays are of a dark red colour. We are often told that whatever kind of weather we have on a Friday we shall have similar