The Lucknow Sentinel, 1948-12-23, Page 1•
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„DCEIVL13ER. 23rd, 1948 ,
TWELYVE PAGES
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f . This editorial, Which has justly --
become timeless,. :was written in
the New York Sun in 1897 by
Francis': Pharcellus Church; in
answer to a letter from a little,:.
ei,•htz ,real old girl named Vir
zginia €3'klar ldn who had beers• told
1b't7 "scale ax her fie_ndsithat 'there:-
• Was no . Santa Claus
'Virginia, your:little friends:are
wrong...They hare 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 comprehen
si,hle by"their little minds. All
' minds, Virginia; iv*hether they be
inen; , or children's aye. little. Z i '
this ; great 'universe 'of. ours magi'
• is. a 'rnere `insect -, an, ant, in his.
intellect,. as compared:. with '.the
boundless Worlds about him, as.
• ,measured by .`the..." -intelligence.'
capable of grasping the.whole of.
' 'truth and kno3iledge '
Yes, Virginia,: thereis • a•• Santa
' Claus '.; He.'exists ;as ',certainly as.
' love` and .generosity and" devotion
exist,.. arid' • 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
could be.'•as: dreary as: if. there
I were. iso' Virginias. There • would ";
• be 'no ..childlike fabth; then, no
:poetry; no• , romance to make'
erat le . thin ;existence We should ;, >
a have "'noenjoyment,' except in
• '1. cerise :and. sight;, The' eternal ,light '`
' xth,.. which + childhood tills the
world :�tii•o ila be " extinguished.
:Not , believe in Santa ,Claus!;
•YouMight. as, well, not"believe in.'
t
.faiies!, You might get .your..papa
"'to hire nen to 'watch in a11% the •
. chimne` i, on Ghristri as k Eve to•
: Watch.,,Santa nta Claus, . but •. even . if
?
they did not see' Santa Claus: com
ing down, what: would . • that
prove? ,Nobody "sees ,Santa Claus; •
,tut that is' no sign that; there .i:
no Santa Claus. •The . 'most real
things in the world are; those .that •
• neither children`nor'men can seer
1 Did you eyei see' •fairies danlcing
on the lawn? Of course (got but
"th'at's no 'proof:t1 at'they are not
there. Nobody •cam conceive` bi
imagine all 'the wonders therere`
• unseen and unseeable in; 'the''.
You tear apart the • baby's; tattle
• and see , what makes the : noise
!inside,' but there is a veil covering
the unseen'world which not the:-
.1
strongest . finer that ever .lived.,
:'could tear ' apart Only :,...faith; `
•'; fancy: poetiy, l'bve romance; can
push.. aside that .curtain and vies
and, picture, th•e supernal' beauty•:
and glory beyond, ,rs it 'all real?'
Ah, ' V irbinia , In ',all this' world
there 'is . 'nothing else. real and
•abidimg: No Santa Claus! ::'l'hanlz:
'• God! he',.hies, and he lives for-
ever. A thousand ,years from ftow
• Virginia,'` nay, ten• tinier ten •
thousand'years'from now,•.he,will
continue '.to Makeglad the heart
of .childhood
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