"Her?" repeated Fred. "Who says her?"
"I know it, because some one said so," Jess maintained. "You never heard a ship called 'him.' Daddy always says, 'She's built from the best dried lumber,' when he's talking about his boats."
"But what has that got to do with being polite?" Polly asked, puzzled.
"Oh, girls are always more polite than boys, so ships must be," said Jess, apparently thinking her reasoning was most clear.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Artie declared, with more frankness than courtesy. "But, anyway, that isn't the right answer. Margy?"
Margy looked anxious. She took her riddles seriously.
"Is it because it dips its colors when it meets another boat?" she asked.
"No, that isn't right," Artie said. "They don't all dip their colors, either. Can you guess, Ward?"
"Maybe because the decks are scrubbed," declared Ward. "My mother says it is polite to have clean hands."
Artie shook his head, not against the clean hands, but to signify that the answer was not the one sought.