. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across changed, and so many of their youthful companions dead,that they wrote back and advised those who were still in Siberia to staythere. My first visit to Siberia was in 1866, forty-one years after the De-cember revolution. At that time there were ten or twelve of the Decem-brists still living, all of them venerable old men. One was a prosperous SOCIAL POSITION OF EXILES. 115 wine-mercliant at Irkutsk; another had made a fortune as a timber-me
. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across changed, and so many of their youthful companions dead,that they wrote back and advised those who were still in Siberia to staythere. My first visit to Siberia was in 1866, forty-one years after the De-cember revolution. At that time there were ten or twelve of the Decem-brists still living, all of them venerable old men. One was a prosperous SOCIAL POSITION OF EXILES. 115 wine-mercliant at Irkutsk; another had made a fortune as a timber-mer-chant ; others were comfortable, though not wealtliy; and two or tlireewere in humble, though not destitute circumstances. Now, if they hadl)een treated with the cruelty that is alleged to be the lot of all Siberianexiles, do you think any of them would have reached such an advancedage ? Silence gave assent to the query. After a short pause, Frank askedwhat was the social standing of these exiles, the Decembrists. It was nearly, though not quite, what it was in European Russia be-fore their exile, was the reply. They were received in the best Si-. EXILES PASSING THROUGH A TILLAGE. berian families, whether official or civilian, and were on terms of friend-ship with the officials in a private way. They were not invited to strictlyofficial ceremonies, and this was about the only difference between theirtreatment and that of those who were not exiles. Of course I refer to thetime when they were settled in the towns, after their term of forced la- 310 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSLiN EMPIRE. Lor was ended. Before that they were just like any other j^risoners con-demned to the same kind of servitude. There were two of the Decembrists (Prince Tronbetskoi and PrinceYolbonskoi) whose wives were wealthy, and followed their husbands intoexile. When relieved from labor and allowed their personal liberty, theseprinces came to Irkutsk and built tine houses. They entertained hand-somely, w
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