Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/149

Rh are put into active service in the field, while the older ones are employed for garrisoning forts and other light work."

"Don't they have any exemption for the sons of rich men?" one of the youths inquired.

"Theoretically there is none," the Doctor answered; "but in order to cover such cases, and particularly to provide officers for the army, it is arranged that young men with a fair education may be enrolled as volunteers for short terms during and from their seventeenth year of age.

When their volunteer service is completed they may pass into the reserve, or be subjected to an examination for commissions as officers either in the