Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 2.djvu/54

38 everywhere with fear or suspicion, he understands and appreciates the feeling that impels a common criminal colonist to call an exile's "permit to reside" a "wolf's passport."

At last, with the aid perhaps of other political exiles, he finds and rents a single scantily furnished room in the house of some poor peasant, unpacks his portmanteau, and proceeds to make the acquaintance of his environment. The first and most important question that arises in his mind is the question of subsistence. How is he to live? He has left his wife and young children entirely unprovided for in European Russia; he has long been tortured by a vivid consciousness of their helpless and destitute condition, and now he finds himself suddenly confronted with the question of maintenance for himself. What is he to do? He examines the "Rules Relating to Police Surveillance," and learns from Section 33 that "administrative exiles who have no pecuniary means of their own shall receive an allowance from the Government treasury for their support." This "allowance," as he soon ascertains, is six rúbles, or a little less than three dollars, a month. He makes inquiries in the town or village market-place, and finds, as the result of his investigations, that if he receives the Government allowance, and buys only the things that he regards as absolutely essential to life, his monthly budget will stand as follows: