HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-12-23, Page 56•
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1 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,
115 West 95th Street
FIRST PRINTED IN THE NEW YORK SUN,
SEPTEMBER 21, 1897.
• We 4ake pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the
communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification
that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
May you all have an
enjoyable holiday
season.
%Ma IMMISAINIP
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been af-
fected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not
believe except what 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. Ile 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 enjoy-
ment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which
childhood fills the 'Wadi] would be extinguished;
Not believe in'Santa Claus! You alight as well not believe in
fairiesl Von might get your papa to hire men to watch in all
the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even
if they did not see SantiClaus coming down, what would that
prove? Nobody sees Santa auutt, but that 15 110 sign that there
is no Santa Clans. The most real things in the world are those
that neither children nor men can see. Did yon ever see fairies
denting on the lawn? Of course notl but that's no proof that
they are not there. *body 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 oot the strongest man, nin even the united strati/111.0f
all ttie strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only
faith,_ fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that cur-
tain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory
beyond. is it real? Ah, Virginia, In all this world there is
nothing eke real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God he
lives, end he lives forever. A thousand years from now,
Virginia, nay 10 times 10 thousand yeare from now, he will
continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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