d shell is not to be
despised when no other is attainable. We eat them with great gusto,
thinking they are "so nice," without considering for a moment that they
have feelings and sentiments of their own, or are intended for any other
purpose than the gratification of our palate. But that is a mistake
which I will try to rectify in order that the _bon vivant_ may enjoy
hereafter the pleasures of a mental and bodily feast conjointly.

Most crabs are hatched from eggs, and begin life in a very small way.
They float round in the water, at first, without really knowing what
they are about. They have but little sense to start with, but after a
while improve and begin to strike out in a blind instinctive way, which,
after a few efforts, resolves itself into real genuine swimming. They
commence walking about the same time. Awkward straggling steps, to be
sure, but they get over the ground, and that is the most they care for.

When they are about a month old they begin to feel that life has its
realities, and that they must do something towards the end for which
they were made. The thought is faint at first, but by degrees grows
weightier, till at last they can stand it no longer, and, making a great
effort to throw off the incubus of babyhood that weighs so heavily upon
them, they burst open the back door of their shell and slowly creep out
backwards. It takes about five minutes for them to get entirely out,
head, legs and all, and then for a moment or two they gaze in
stupefaction at their old shell, amazed to find that they have, by their
own efforts, unaided and alone, accomplished such a wonderful change.

The thought is overwhelming. It fills them with pride; rejoicingly they
exult, and swell with gratification. This state of self-gratulation
lasts about twenty minutes, at the end of which time they have increased
their bulk to nearly double its former size, and they remain so.

They can't get back into the old shell now, for it won't fit them, and
as there is no other for them to go into, the only thing left for them
to do is to build another house.

It takes three or four days before they get fairly to work, and during
this time they are called soft-shell crabs. This stage is particularly
dangerous to the delicate creatures, for they, in their tender beauty,
are so attractive to hungry fishes that it is really a wonder any
escape. Tender, helpless, innocent and beautiful, they are almost sure
to be victimized and gor