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 on 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 sat 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
sweet and soft. The clear sunshine streamed warmly through the window
into the pew where Karen sat. Her heart was so full of sunshine and
peace, and joy, that it broke. Her soul flew on the sunshine to God, and
there no one asked after the _red shoes_.
* * * * *
Hans Christian Andersen is an excellent allegorist, and has very
ingeniously woven together a most interesting fabric in this story of
Karen, who, I am sure, every child cannot fail to see is a fabulous
heroine. And yet there is something so simple and touching in the whole
story, from beginning to end, that one can scarcely read it without
weeping over her sufferings, and wondering in their hearts at the
severity of her punishment.
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