n white garments, the same she had seen that night at the
church door; but he no longer carried the sharp sword, but in its
stead a splendid green spray, full of roses. And he touched the
ceiling with the spray, and the ceiling rose so high, and where he had
touched it there gleamed a golden star. And he touched the walls, and
they widened out, and she saw the organ which was playing; she saw the
old pictures of the preachers and the preachers' wives. The
congregation sat in cushioned seats, and sang out of their
prayer-books. For the church itself had come to the poor girl in her
narrow chamber, or else she had come into the church. She sate in the
pew with the clergyman's family, and when they had ended the psalm and
looked up, they nodded and said, "It is right that thou art come!"

"It was through mercy!" she said.

And the organ pealed, and the children's voices in the choir sounded
so sweet and soft! The clear sunshine streamed so warmly through the
window into the pew where Karen sate! Her heart was so full of
sunshine, peace, and joy, that it broke. Her soul flew on the sunshine
to God, and there no one asked after the Red Shoes.

------------

TO THE YOUNG READERS

Here is another volume of Andersen's charming stories for you; and I
am sure you will be glad to get it. For my part, I am always delighted
to find one that I do not happen to have yet seen; and as I know the
others pleased you--for I have heard so, both directly and indirectly,
from a great many people, there can be no doubt that you all will be
overjoyed to have a few more of these stories told you.

And there is no one who participates in this delight more than--whom
do you think? Why, than Andersen himself! He is so happy that his
Tales have been thus joyfully received, and that they have found their
way to the hearts and sympathies of you all. He speaks of it with
evident pleasure; and it is not vanity, but his kind affectionate
nature, which inclines him to mention such little occurrences as prove
how firm a hold his writings have taken on the minds of the young and
gentle-natured. "So much praise might," he says, "spoil a man, and
make him vain. Yet no, it does not spoil him: on the contrary, it
makes him better; it purifies his thoughts, and this must give one the
impulse and the will to deserve it all." He was so pleased to hear,
and I, you may be sure, was equally pleased to tell him, what had been
written to me by a friend a