In this quaint narrative, therefore, we see the inauguration of the great revival meetings which soon came to be so largely attended that it was necessary to build open arbors to accommodate the attendance. The movement gathered strength as it spread north, south, east and west, and camping on the spot followed as a natural result of the sustained enthusiasm. From its first inception the plan and idea of camp meeting life was to lift the mind for a season out of, and beyond all worldly cares, and thus to permit the soul to feast on things spiritual. The idea appealed at once to the primitive people of the rural communities even more than to those of the cities. The simple life of the camp was something they could understand and were used to. It was a mode of life that they loved as well. Its popularity was such from the very outset that it was no uncommon thing for the farmer who could not provide for the attendance of all his family at the meetings, to load his big wagon with cots, bedding, provisions and his family, and live in it, and under it on the camp grounds, if he could not procure a tent, contented with any sort of a shelter, so long as the meetings continued, which was sometimes for several weeks. The early camp grounds were attractive, yet very simple in their arrangements. A thickly wooded site was always chosen, preferably on the banks of a river or lake. Always, of necessity, there was water near by, even if the camp could not be directly on its shores. Willing hands cleared away the underbrush, made rude benches of logs, the ground under them being strewn with new mown hay, fresh straw or pine needles. Other willing workers marked off the boundaries for the circle of tents and prepared the place for the preachers, building a platform and a rustic pulpit. Then there was the “mourners’ bench”. This was an important point, and was never omitted. It was a big log supported by stout forked branches driven into the ground in front of the pulpit. Gleaming through the dark, flickering shadows of the dense foliage overhead, were seen the white-tented temporary homes of the people, while behind them rose the blue smoke of the many outdoor kitchen fires, where green branches and twigs served for fuel. Iron kettles on rustic cranes hung over the fires, and in the hot ashes the savory odor of roasting potatoes or apples rose on the air, mingling with the aroma of coffee, the smell of roasting or stewing or frying meats and fish.