Though actual 'camping' holidays were only for tourists, there were occasions where sleeping in a tent might be necessary. Fishing and hunting trips, long excursions, or following an army. But the most common reason for sleeping under the stars, throughout the Victorian Era, was when attending one of the very popular 'Camp Meetings'.
"There are poor drunkards enough, after all, but it is a wonder there are no more, when whiskey is only a shilling or eighteenpence a gallon".
Many camp meetings were organized by the Methodists and generally lasted for one or two weeks. People attending pitched tents and brought their own provisions. Meetings were held every hour of the day and there was stirring oratory from the assembled preachers. Some of the audience, after listening for an hour or two, would be overcome by "the power" and would then lie prostrate on the ground. As one sermon ended another would begin.
Susanna Moodie went to a camp meeting and recalls (Life in the Clearings 1853) "Towards the middle of
his discourse, the speaker wrought himself up into such a religious fury that it became infectious, and cries and groans resounded on all sides; and the prayers poured out by repentant sinners for mercy and pardon were heart-rending. The speaker at length became speechless from exhaustion, and stopping suddenly in the midst of his too eloquent harangue, he tied a red cotton handkerchief round his head, and hastily descended the steps, and disappeared in the tent provided for the accommodation of the ministers. His place was instantly supplied by a tall, dark, melancholy looking man, who, improving upon his reverend brother's suggestions, drew such an awful picture of the torments endured by the damned, that several women fainted, while others were shrieking in violent hysterics"
