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| Dear Editor--- |
|
| I am 8 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 do not believe
except |
| they see. They think that nothing can be which is not |
| comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, |
| whether they be men's or 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. |
|
| Yes, 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 dreary as if there were no Virginias. There
would be |
| no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make
tolerable |
| this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in
sense and |
| sight. The external light with which childhood fills the
world |
| would be extinguished. |
|
| Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe
in |
| fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in
all the |
| chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if
you |
| 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 things 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 |
| 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 which
not |
| the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the |
| strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith,
poetry, |
| love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and
picture |
| the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah,
Virginia, |
| in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. |
|
| No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A |
| thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000
years |
| from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of
childhood. |
|
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