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Show There IS a Santa Claus! In 1807, Virginia O'Hanlon, then eight years old, wrote to the Editor of the New York Sun, pointing out ,i that some of her little friends had claimed there was no j Santa Claus, and asking (he direct question: "Please J tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?" This was I answered in the following editorial, which has become one of the classics of American literature. ,1 Virginia, your little fri.-nds are wrong-. They have been tffected by tne skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not .jelieve except thty see. They tliink that nothing can be A-hich is not comprehensible by thei-r little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they lie men's or children's, are little. In .his great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in i (lis iiiLcilect, as compared with the boundless world about i lim, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the vvhok: ol truth and knowledge. j Ye,-;, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as cer-! cer-! .ainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you now that they abound and give to your life its highest x-auty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Sant Claus ! It would be as dreary as if there ' ,vore no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, i 10 poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We ihould have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The ;ternal light with which childhood fills the world would be jxtinguished. j Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe be-lieve in fairies ! ' You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa plaus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, 1 ,vhat would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that ,i is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things Jin the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn ? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine. all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, .but there is a veil covering the unseen world jwhich not the strongest man, nor even the united strength ;of all tire strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain anil View and picture the supernal beauty and glory i beyond. "Is it all Veal? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. for-ever. A thousand years Trom now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. |