Analyzing a non-fiction text

Today we’re going to read an explanation about the new Victorian hobby of going camping!
(Well, it was new back then in 1881!) This account is written by Charles Dickens Jr.

Task 1:
Four of these eight statements are TRUE. Shade in the boxes for the ones which are true.

Statement

Many people speak about camping enthusiastically.

One camping-ground owner had to close their site because people kept stealing fruit and eggs.

The writer says he prefers to sleep in a bed rather than going camping

Camping next to water is absolutely fine, according to the writer.

A lot of land by the river is open to the public

It is fine to camp under overhanging trees.

The writer advises people to go camping in private gardens.

A shop in Wigmore Street sells excellent stoves for camping.

Task 2:
Highlight all the facts (not opinions) about the camping in this extract.
Bonus Challenge: Write out a summary of Victorian camping using
quotes from the article.

Task 3:
Circle all the quotes which show the writer is annoyed by some people who go camping and don’t follow the rules. Bonus Challenge: Which language techniques does he use to make us understand his annoyance? Make notes on these and explain how the writer is able to get us to
understand his annoyance.

Camping Out is a form of entertainment which has lately come into fashion, and is spoken of with much enthusiasm by its devotees, among whom may be numbered a proportion of ladies. it is a little difficult to see the great enjoyment of sleeping in a tent when you can get a bed, or of being exposed to the mists and fogs which are so plentiful on the river at night and in the early morning even in the summer. It is not necessary to give any detailed advice on this subject, as the enthusiast will probably
have imbibed the taste for camping from an experienced friend, who will he able to “show him all the ropes.” It may be suggested that a good deal of the land on the banks of the river is private property, and that trespassing in private paddocks and gardens, as is too often done, indiscriminate wood-cutting for fires, and similar practices, should be avoided. The owner of one wellknown and extremely comfortable camping-ground has been, we regret to say, compelled to close it against campers owing to the ill return so constantly made him for his courtesy. This gentleman is a man of the world, and not at all of a fidgety or touchy
disposition; but when it came to cutting down valuable ornamental shrubs, climbing garden walls, stealing fruit and eggs and surreptitiously milking cows at unholy hours, it was felt that the line must be drawn. A lock- island is generally a good place for a camp. Tents should be pitched a little distance from the water, on rising ground if possible, and upon no account under the shadow of overhanging trees. It is well to be provided with a sufficiency of reasonable comforts, but the example of a party who were seen last year at Cookham, with a servant in livery laying the table for dinner, is not one to be followed. Half the fun of camping consists in doing everything for oneself, and in the perfect freedom from all conventional social trammels which such a mode of existence involves. For cooking utensils, the cooking stoves sold at 93, Wigmore-street, have been well spoken of. An iron tripod, with a chain and hook to which to hang the kettle or the saucepan, is very useful. B. Edgington, of Tooley-street, can be recommended for tents of all kinds.