All this is true. At the same time, was it mere cruelty? It is
very simple: we were a lot of Jewish lads snatched from the arms of
our mothers. On the eve of every Sabbath our mothers would take us
in hand, wash us, comb our hair, change our underwear, and dress us
in our Sabbath clothes. All at once we were taken into exile.
Days, weeks, nay, months, we passed in the dust of the roads, in
perspiration and dirt, and sleeping on the ground. Our underwear
had not been changed. No water had touched our bodies. So we
became afflicted with all kinds of eruptions. That is why we had to
pass through what we called "the chamber of hell." And this will
give you an idea of the rest.

To make a long story short: there were many of us, and we were
distributed in various places. Many of the boys had taken ill; many
died on the road. The survivors were distributed among peasants, to
be brought up by them till they reached the age of entering the
army. I was among the latter. Many months, maybe even years, I
passed in knocking about from village to village, from town to town,
till, at last, I came into the joint possession of a certain Peter
Semionovich Khlopov and his wife Anna Petrovna. My master was
neither old nor young; he was neither a plain peasant nor a
nobleman. He was the clerk of the village. In those days that was
considered a genteel occupation, honorable and well-paid. He had no
sons, but he and one daughter, Marusya by name. She was then about
fourteen years old, very good-looking, gay, and rather wild.

According to the regulations, all the Cantonists in the village had
to report daily for military drill and exercise on the drill grounds
before the house of the sergeant. He lived in the same village. At
the request of my patron Khlopov I was excused from the daily drill,