1.By the time Baby was twelve months old she had learned many things.She called her mother “ma-ma，”and she could say “kitty”to the cat.
2.She knew “fire”and “burn；”for she hadonce put her hand against the hot grate，andshe never forgot the pain of the big blistersthat came on her poor fingers.She also knewthe lamp，and the window，and the mirror .
3.About this time she heard a long，strange word many，many times a day.The word was “Mussentouchit.”
4.Baby wondered what Mussentouchit could be.The strange thing lived in the chest of drawers.Baby knew that；for the moment she got her busy little hands into any drawer，somebody would say，“Mussentouchit.”
5.It lived in the sewing-machine，too；for the moment Baby set the wheel going，mother took her hand gently away，and said，“Mussentouchit.”
6.It sometimes lived in the tall jar that stood on the little round table.Everybody in the room cried “Mussentouchit”when Baby stretched up her hand to touch that jar.
7.In the corner of the parlour there was a glass globewith water，and in it lived three littlegold-fishes.Baby was very fond of climbing on a chair to see the tiny fishes darting across their pretty lake But whenever she dipped her fingers into the globe to touch the prettycreatures，somebody said，“Mussentouchit.”
8.Now this went on till Baby was two years old.There was no word she heard so often asthe long，queerword，Mussentouchit.
9.One day she found herself near the glass globe all alone.Her mother was very busy，and for a few minutes did not notice what Baby was doing.This was her chance.
10.She climbed up on the chair，and reached over to touch the gold-fishes.But she reached a little too far，and fell to the floor，dragging theglobe with her，and drenchingwater.
herself with the
11.Baby was picked up，kissed，and scolded.She was frightened，but not hurt.This taught her a lesson which she did not forget.She learned not to put her hands into places where “Mussentouchit”lived.
