Northern Lands by Oliver Optic — Read

At half past seven the next morning, breakfast had been disposed of, and the little steamer came alongside the ship to convey the students to St. Petersburg again. At nine o'clock she landed them on the English Quay, near the Nicholas Bridge. A procession was formed, which was but the work of a moment, for every student knew his place in the line. The column moved along the quay to the Winter Palace, under the guidance of an officer of the emperor's household, who had been detailed for the purpose, when Mr. Fluxion applied for permission to see the palace. Every courtesy had been extended to the tourists, and not a word was said about passports.

At the Hotel Klée, Kendall and Shuffles had sent their passports to the police office. They had been _visé_ at the Russian consulate in Stockholm, and permission was indorsed upon them for the owners to abide in the city. The people at the hotel attend to all this business, and ask for the traveller's passport as soon as he arrives, charging the fees, which are quite small, in the bill. In every additional city or town in which the tourist remains over night, his passport must be sent to the police, who indorse upon it the permission to remain. Letters from abroad are delivered to travellers, but newspapers, unless they are on the permitted list, are detained. A few New York papers are on this list, and it is useless to send any others into Russia, for they will not be forwarded to their address. The custom-house officers were formerly very strict in regard to the admission of books, and are so still where there is any suspicion of revolutionary works, or of those directed against the Orthodox Greek church. Such books as ordinary travellers desire to carry, as the Bible, Prayer-books, and Guidebooks, are permitted to pass.