would be picked out of the red shells, and made into salad.

"What makes the crabs red?" asked Violet the next morning as she saw the
pile of cold, boiled creatures. "They were a sort of brown and green
color when we caught them yesterday."

"Yes," said her father, "crabs, lobsters and shrimps, when they are
boiled, turn red. Just why this is I don't know. I suppose there is
something in their shells that the hot water changes."

"Can they pinch my toe now?" asked Mun Bun, as he stood near his mother,
looking at the basket full of cooked crabs.

"Nope! They can't hurt you now; they're cooked," Laddie replied. "I'm
not 'fraid!" and he picked up a big crab, holding it by one of the
claws.

Vi then did the same thing.

"Go ahead and take one, Mun Bun," urged Laddie.

"No! I don't guess I want to," said the little fellow.

"I know a riddle you could make up about a crab," said Rose, who had
come to the kitchen to watch Cousin Ruth clean the shellfish.

"What is it?" Laddie demanded instantly.

"What color is a crab when it can't pinch?" sing-songed Rose. "And the
answer is it's red when it can't pinch."

"Yes, that is a pretty good riddle," said Laddie, as, with his head on
one side, he thought it over. "But I know how to make it better," he
went on.

"How?" asked his mother.

"Let me think a minute," he begged. "Oh, I have it! Why is a crab like a
newspaper?"

"'Tisn't!" exclaimed Russ who came along just then. He was limping a
bit, for his toe was sore where the crab had pinched him.

"Yes, 'tis!" declared Laddie. "That's the riddle. It's something like
the one Rose told. Why is a crab like a newspaper?"

"'Cause it folds its claws when it doesn't want to bite you?" asked
Violet.

"Nope!"

"Tell us," suggested Russ.

"Well, a crab is like a newspaper, 'cause when it's red it can't bite or
pinch," Laddie said. "See?"

"Huh! Yes, I see," murmured Russ. "A crab is like a newspaper because
when it's red. Oh, I know! You mean when a newspaper is r-e-a-d. That's
a different red from reading. But it's a good riddle all right, Laddie."

"I didn't think of it all," said the little boy. "Rose helped."

"Oh, well, you made a riddle out of it," his sister told him. "Here
comes Cousin Ruth. I'm going to watch her clean the crabs."

It was quite a lot of work to take the sweet, white meat out of the
crab-shells, but Cousin Ruth knew the best way to do it.

In about an hour she had a large bowl full of the