YOUTHFUL TOURISTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 633, 9 October 1909, Page 5

YOUTHFUL TOURISTS.

THEIR TRAVELS AND TROUBLES,

Few lueii can boast of having made thetrip •from Aiistrkiia 16 .'America aha baik.'again by themselves' betare they had ventured' into their tieiiiji'yet' 'there were..'two. juvenile" passengers on the Hauroto,. p'assing' tnrouglV to. byciney, who. are-within' turee days of . having accomplished the feat, if it niay be so-called, ,'i'he lads are Aoel. aud .Theodore. Shepherd ( aged, 13 and 11 year' 9 respectively, who,, haying, travelled to cian Francisco six months ago, to join their lather, have since beconieVorphank, and are now journeying back'to Melbourne at the call of. their grandfather., Strangely: enough, their story, toid to a. Dominion reporter yesterday, concerns. Wellington. ', The father of tho two little chaps (who confess to be "sick to death of travelling") was lit. John T. Shepherd,- who' some thirty months ago was in the employ here of Messrs. Gordon, and Gotch, for which firm he worked for three or. four years. The boys, wiieumuch. smaller than, they. are now,. travelled to . New . Zealand "on their own," at: the behest .of their father, , and lived with Mr. : Millcn, theii in charge of Messrs. Hannah ; and .Oo.'s- boot shop' at.Uannevirkc ■and were, there, when the lata Mr.. Shepherd \vent. £o .'.Afuerica over two-years'; ago. Six mohths- ago, ' when he . had settled' down into steady work with; tho Pacific Codst.Paper. Company, ivith headquarters at San . Francisco, he called • his,:boys across the Pacific, 'and again the little out. .by, themselves, across half; tho world.. They, were only there a few months, when Mr. Shepherd,died of apoplexy, ahd once more they had to strike the trail lor Australia. .

..It is simply:astonishing to note what bright self-confidence has been implanted in the lads by this' rough-and-ready shoulder-rubbing with the world. - They-passed through Wellington yesterday on a-.Co#kVtiek«t, And .Mr.. H. Cr&mond (local manager-for Thos.'Cdok and. Son) stated'that they were the easiest'little gentlemen to manage whim it hadeverbeen his lot to meet. They- knew their way about, looked after the transfer of thefr own luggage to the Ulimaroa, and gave absolutely . no .trouble ffhioh cannot' be said of the avetige ' adult tiurist. "In the fiw :■ months ' they resided in .:'Ameri« they had':picked up all the idioms of " speech ' and"' manner peculiar ; to the,-"Pacific. Sloper," and were so moved'at the -sight of a-city restaurant thit exhibited as a painted sign, the starred and striped, pattern of "Old. Glory". - that they lunched there, .instead bf: returning, to the ship. " Questioned' About San. FraneiSco, Noel said that it wds ell right as fit Ss they were concerned, but it was no place to get work He was disglisted at the slow rate they were rebuilding San JFrahcisco., The workmen seemed to loaf half the tinje. Melbourne wis good enough for him, sure!.