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Show CHRISTMAS Cia.sstts " i i1 if "" -f " 1 ,, myd 'k if-it.y aff jJuk ft-' u '- J. L ' AiL u.-ovf U(i ' ,U tilU(J uAS"l ty, . -jtUiwiU-bji tin VUOX ttiy-Jftuj jiyKf" t'tyt Sr. tt (trfumy (. .VuWsfoJ m iM, a J,, U it'' oU f-"4 &i(.ifc-; : jfrf U Ji ffUl CaJt, 'Ja uu tki fit v U a cAmjlj f ffjre licl.t(f ft'jtTw. fcu tUKj J itituutia ami op.rf (jt6 UUf, I MMb knur .ai H-tChj t JjwxS, ;V "vri: X VThe Nativityby Correqqio hfi'J i-Tx f ' , ' - '? ' xV( - X Is There a Santa Claus? Clement C. Moore , . . We take pleasure in answering at once ana ':. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON UT is a "Christmas classic"? - It is a piece of writing or a picture, h associated with Christmas, of which 1. people are so fond that they never ;row tired of reading it or seeing it igain and again, no matter how many I iimes before they have read it or .seen it. The birth of Christ, the event which '-ason for the celebration of Christmas, - the inspiration for some of -our great-;s. great-;s. But among all the paintings of there Is one which probably has a Weal than any of 'he others and is re fl tmo Phriot-mna pln5Rlp Thnt ic: Is There a Santa Claus? We take pleasure in answering at once and .rtmion-l.r tV,A rnmrniiTiinaflfin Helow. i'j's "Holy Night." : !' fears ago Dr. W. R. Valentiner, dirt di-rt the Detroit Institute of Arts and a Sscwn authority on painting, compiled tof York Times Magazine a list of the latest Christmas pictures." Of these nuked Botticelli's "Mystical Adoration Hid" first but of Correggio's Holy Jt said : "It Is undoubtedly the most ot the representations of the theme to' old masters. It Is, for the most part, !Hsm, the radiating serenity of Cor-Mch Cor-Mch makes his portrayal so charming. '' tharm emanates from the youthful !Mry, what magic from the Child, from :ir, for perhaps the first tirfe In Italian ' "ght streams out and envelopes the Like a Christmas hymn, Jubilant and ' -frith the ecstasy of the new message, from .the beaming faces of the shep- the women, from the dancing ges-'the ges-'the angels." is the Nativity has been the inspiration ;ters, so have various phases of Christ-.n Christ-.n Inspiration for the poets. 11 the Christmas poems, the one which ' scellence a Christmas classic, in that .; st often reprinted and Is most familiar ' test number of people, Is that old, ";ite "A Visit From St. Nicholas." , ;-rarkable thing about this Christmas li that It was written quite by chance ! by chance It was started on its road In 1822 Dr. Clement Clarke Moore, :f Oriental literature In the General 1 seminary in New York city, wrote wlstmas poem for his two daughters. rjPteied that his niece was spending ;nas in the Moore home. She copied , ln her album, from which a copy was frlend of hers who lived in Troy, N. Y. member 23, 1S23, the poem was printed rJ Sentinel with this note from the lo D(t know to whom we are indebted Wowing description of that unwearied llc'ren that homely but delightful ."on of parental kindness, Santa , costume and his equipage as he iicn V'sitinS the firesides of this happy sve Wlth Chrlstmas bounties ; but, from f,r " may have come, we give thanks ill ls' to our apprehension, a spirit n ,dness ln 14 ! a Playfulness of fancy ''4 Dr nt a,acrity to enter into the feel-'foniote feel-'foniote the simple pleasures of chil--yn ,ilre altogether charming. We hope it a, 'rons. both lads and lassies, will ac-ni ac-ni f 0f our UDfe,sned good will liify m"as a token of our warmest wish ay have many a Merry Christmas, that they may long retain their beautiful relish for the unbought homebred joys which derive their flavor from filial piety and fraternal love, and which they may be assured are the least alloyed that time can furnish them ; and that they may never part with that simplicity of character which is their own fairest ornament, and for the sake of which they have been pronounced, pro-nounced, by authority which none can gainsay, the types' of such as shall Inherit the Kingdom of Heaven." Other newspapers copied the poem and soon it had become known all over the country and even found its way into the school readers. But despite its popularity, Its author preferred to remain unknown. In 1809 he had published his monumental Hebrew and English lexicon, the first work of its kind to be Issued In this country and a scholarly work which he hoped would make his name famous. As a scholar he did not want It known that he had composed what he called this "silly verse." But he could not help it becoming known that he had written writ-ten it, for In 1837 the poem was published in "The New York Book of Toetry" with his name attached to it. Finally in 1SG2, forty years after he had written it, he admitted its authorship and presented to the New York Historical society so-ciety an autograph copy. (Reproduced above.) There are several pieces of prose writing which have some claims to being Christmas classics in the truest sense. But the outstanding out-standing Christmas classic in prose, like Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas", made Its first appearance ap-pearance in the columns of an American newspaper news-paper That is the famous "Is There a Santa Claus?" editorial, written by Francis P. Church of the New York Sun. Although this has been reprinted thousands of times, translated into foreign languages (even the Chinese!) and Christmas would not seem complete without Its being reprinted again around Christmas time, curiously enough it firt appeared in type fully three mont hs , be ore Christmas. It was on September 21. 1S9-, that the Sun printed the editorial in reply to the cWldish scrawl which is reproduced above Not only did this editorial become a Christmas Christ-mas classic but the little Virginia OTIanlou, who once wanted her faith In Santa Claus re-L re-L ured became something of a legendary person per-son and some have doubted, even as she once 18 8 SantCwWo"t.rnN.w.paperUn1.n. expressing at the same time our great gratification gratifi-cation that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of the Sun: Dear Editor I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says: "If you see it in the Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?" VIRGINIA O'HANLON. Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or little children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Ves, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as drear as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood child-hood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus? You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get vour papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus but even if they did not see Santa Claus' coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real thi-es in 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 won-ders there are unseen and unseeable m the world- , t u . U1 , You may tear apart the baby s rattle and see what makes the noise inside but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, po-etrv po-etrv love, romance, can push aside that cur-in'and cur-in'and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia fn all this world there is nothmg else real and abiding. . No Santa Claus? Thank God! he lives forever for-ever A thousand years from now Virginia, n,y'ten times ten thousand years from now he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. |