Show io bibi dra dR 9 bihl f 16 ta 4 al 51 je artz ax 4 y 0 o rr xi arft 4 alti lt i nka V tm baft i Aft 4 as cz c V vaa VA a w rr r yc X j J by ELMO SCOTT WATSON NE day in september 1807 0 there came to the office of the new york sun tile the let ter which Is reproduced above it was turned over to francis I 1 11 Ct church surch nn an editorial writer for the tha sun and on S september 21 there appeared in the editorial columns of that paper tile the following we W take pleasure to in answering at once and thus prominently the corn com below at t the bic our kredl great its iti faithful author Is numbered number ail amorell the friends 0 of f the tb sun dear dea eld editor altor I 1 am a 8 years old some of my little friends say pay thero there if a no santa claus papa says hayai if you seep it in the sun its if no BO please till tell me ma the truth 1 is I there a santa claus virginia Ol lanton virginia your little friends ore are wrong they have been attested aldei atTe eted ted by tife skepticism of a skeptical age they do not believe except they see e th they ey think that nothing can be b which la Is not comprehensible by their little all minds virginia whether they be mens or little chil childrens drans are little in thle this great universe of ours oura man to la a vl mere insect an ant in hla his intellect BJ as compared with the boundless world about him as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of tru truth t h and knowledge yes tea virginia there to ie a santa claus claua lie exists as certainly an aa love and generosity and devotion exist ellot and you know that they abound and give to el your alf a its highest beauty and joy alast alanl how dreary wo would uld bo the world 21 if there were no santa claus it would be as drear aa 8 ir if there were no vir V there ther would be no childlike child like faith then no poetry no romance to make tolerable this existence we should auve no enjoyment except in manse and eight the eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished not beneve in santa banta claus claral you xou might as well not believe in fairleen tal fair rlee leel you might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on christ eve to catch santa claus but even if they d did d not see santa claus coming down what would that prove no body sees santa claus claua but that to in too no sign agn that there la in no santa claus the most real things in the world sr arc those that neither children nor men can see did you ever see bee fairies baying dancing on the lawn jawn of course not but bu that a no proof that they tire are not there nobody can conceive or imagine all the won dern dera there are unseen and in the world you m may R y tear apart the aban rat you tle tie and nd a eee t w what h a t makes the noise in F side aide but here bore to la a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest etron gest mun nor even the united strength of 0 all the strongest atron gest men that ever lived could tear apart only faith fancy V poetry love acance amance can push ush aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal pernal Bu beauty and glory beyond to Is it all real ah ab virginia in a all 1 this world there them in nothing else rea reul an and d abiding no sunta santa claus blaust chank goell h nv lives forever A thousand years frow now virginia nay ten times ten thousand years from now nov no ne will continue to make glad the heart of child hood bood it la Is doubtful tf if church realized when tie he wrote that editorial that he be had penned a classic yel uch was the case rot foi in the years that have followed it tins has been reprinted both voluntarily and by request in thou sands of newspapers thousands ol of times it has been translated into many jnnny foreign languages lunnun Keo even eua tile Chi chines I 1 and every year around christmas time you will see it in print nome ome where not mot only has yes there la a santu sanan buus olaus bavine it a part of the american Amer christmas li but 01 little year old virginia OHan anlon loo who once n anted wonted her fulth in stints simla claus reaffirmed hns has become a legend and as such some have doubted that there ever was vias such a girl for the reas of those it may be said that there not only wits waa such a girl but that she still Is 19 living the little vir clr k Ollun lon of 17 Is mm alra clr binin Oll anlon douglas of godny a school teacher in new york a widow and the file ni of a daughter dau liler laura virginia who it Is needless to say any also als believes hel lees that there Is a sanan claus since virginia OHan lons letter was first printed letters have coute come to her every christmus from froin lonely pc people ople whose faith in all things is shaken she has become a symbol of trust arid and of a everlasting childhood for ninny of ie tfx i c r that he tile the letters are written as though cb she Is in still only eight years old abany of 0 thein are addressed in her maiden name but they ore delivered to tier hei at tile the home of her father dr philip whore where to Is ob served just jurt ns as it was in hi 1807 1897 at tant home an all enterprising enier re porter sought her out in 1927 just thirty yours years after fter her famous letter cettei wits was written and in a copyright article issued by tile the north american newspaper alliance virginia dougles tier her belief that frank church ans na right in saying there Ls a a annta claus bemuse lie he Is the symbol for lie file faith the world lives by she said I 1 wish that it could be made easier for all children to believe in santa ban ia blaum in the way that mr church meant my only doubt when I 1 was wac small email was about the identity of santa alnus aln us some of my playmates were siept skeptical lee their own parents were under ernp c ion clon so go I 1 began to wonder whether my christmas presents really came down the file chimney and whether the nt fit the fireplace would be tilled filled by a picturesque bid fellow from the north pole but im afraid there are many thou sands of children without any a ny confidence that their stockings Bloc kings will be filled by anybody it ha has always been so but it seems worse now because the children from poor homes are taken to the big stores by their teachers tea chera tn in the kindergarten and sch la Is and see all of the dolls and toys that more fortunate children will receive half lazed dazed the poor little things are led through aisles overflowing with tile the most wonderful and expensive toys md then they are presented to the store santa claus and he asks asha thein what they want timidly they apes spead ot of a 8 doll or a drum or some acme trinket of no tou sequence in the luxuriant stock of a big store and they mention it only to be polite there may no be a santa claus but not for them last christmas there any there some way to keep every child from being entirely disappointed on christmas day the teach ern era in the schools findo alna out the simple odest modest in debres of these wistful chil dren ind then the community provide the he money to rive give to every small email child the particular small am all tov that hat t tie 1 e craves era v es it may be impracticable but it in ie more than a sentimental wish I 1 think that ever child should have the confidence and faith that hat are by a 11 belief in santa claus claue I 1 dont mean that perfect trust in the integrity of parents which begin before a baby discovers the moon and the grass brass and ir ice e cream and christmas and ends end when he finds find certain packages away in the closet about the middle 0 of f december that perfect trust to la lovely and touching and something to make thoughtful parents parenia feel meek and in adequate but it can pies pass without meri en oua consequences I 1 mean belief in n oua hoople peo 13 le and in the goodness of life and in the spirit of christmas within recent years there has been written another imants claus edito rial brought about by circum circumstance stane similar to those which inspired churche churchs immortal bit of prose whirl which reassures childish faith in the rood good st nick and which walh it if one may safely predict pred let what will or will not a newspaper cla classic sale may eventual ly enjoy a wide fame it appeared in the greenwood Ore enwood ark democrat and read as follows SANTA CLAUS IMMORTAL six year old opal marie adam adaldo heard some of her elders A news item which told of the death jr IP a wreck of a man who was waa playing santa claus this news of the df death ath of santa claus was waa heartbreaking heart breaking to thi the little girl explanation by her parents were not wholly she asked her mother to met the he editor of the he democrat and learn it if the news nelc were true opal marle marie may banish all of her fears for santa claus still lives the man who was killed in the wreck was wn but one of those hundreds of thou sands of mortal allies aides to santa claus clau fa 9 who bring loy to children and to men and women e alt all over 0 vor the world abao these people live their unselfish lives in such close communion with banta claus claua they are selected by him as a his bla assistants the lh they bring to us u come direct from him their lives are a constant reassurance to us that there la is a santa claus clans and our wavering faith it is strengthened out t these aldea aides are mortal they live their pur lives and pass on santa hanta claus claua we know to be immortal lie has lived through all the agee agea lincir the breath of civilization touched savagery he will live through all the ages age yet to come no opal marle marie the santa cajus you rove love was not killed in the wreck there ther la I 1 no disaster easter dl so eo great but can and nd will w survive it all through the horrors and sorrows of 01 DC great reat world war santa claus claua wa in the trenches 0 of all the armies on both sides aides wherever disaster pestilence and exist there will santa claus always be found bringing rom corn fort and happiness happl nese ness and none of those have the power to shorten hla his life for an instant nor to stay his band in hit his ministry to the needy into the homes home of the poor as well as into the mansions of the rich h pays pay his secret visits arid and sheds his cheery blessings blessing impartially partially lin lie may not always brink briar to you all the tb joys you wish but in his great wisdom he be will bring to you those which he knows are tt for you and though you as a little girl may not see him now when he steal into your honse home you will be able t to see aee him when you have grown older and when you have visualized him you will have communed with divinity your santa claus claua lives opal marie and there is in no harm barm that can ever befall him Is there a santa claus ask J F martin postmaster of the town or of santa claus clans inda for there iff uch such a town not to mention a st nicholas pa and the story of I 1 lov how 1 it came into being abeln la Is interesting the town santa claus was first christened 8 sunan unto re fe when it was founded in 1840 1846 one thomas smith sinith a surveyor sur beyor wits was called upon to plot tile the place binally composed of seventeen town lots seventy six years before thal time shadrack biall bad built a tannery the there re for several years tile lie town went by the name of santa fe the hie tion increasing all the lie while after families had settled in the village it wits was derided decided to apply to the govern ment for a post office while the re quest was being considered postal nu au thorit lea les observed that there was no an other either town in indiana named maritto fe consequently the post office department part ment ruled that there could not be post offices in two towns of tile the same name naine in any one state notice to that effect was sent to the people of santa fe a few duys days before christinas in lya immediately calling a mass meeting to see what could he done about renaming tile the town ill hita citizens of santa fe decided to hive give their village the name of sunta santa claus santa claus indis in spencer county twelve miles from the ohio river and nebout four antles from lincoln city near the boyhood horrie home of uncoil and nd tile the site of kit the famous nancy hanks lincoln memo rial it hus has about one hundred ntine stants boasts a milk and cream thin a blacksmith shop and a camill nation general store and post ottlee over which mr martin presides pres ldes km the ie most interesting thing about santo claus indis the lie act that every year that post office la Is floied with letters to in santa claus from childen child rn n not only from all ali parts pans of the states but from canada anada mexico and other foreign countries co as well mr martin has boa been st muster for twenty seven years and in that time lime tins has played santa claus clans to tion of children ildrem ch for he reads all letters tie he receives from children and it if lie he hex hi tinie time answers some nome of them Ai mostly just gentle reminders to santa tie he says sometimes I 1 run across queer requests for gifts one buy asked for a haby elepha tit on rare occasion s he rec receives elves letters utter after Chirl christmas santa for past favors paring the season parents wishing its make the yuletide Y more realistic often mill bones bines of addres addressed qed and let era to the santa inus post office to t line posted d with I 1 tie official saran santa clatis clans postmark mary alary per sorts sons interested in unusual stomp can write to the postmaster ask ing him to cancel stomps on enc ased envelopes and return them hy by nill |