We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered amoung the friends of The Sun: Dear Editor ---
I am 8 years old. Some of my friends say that there is no Santa Claus. Papa says"If you see it in The Sun, it is 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 what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virgina, 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 exists, and you know that they abound and give your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary the world would be 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 existance. We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight. The eternal light 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 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 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 can tear apart the baby's rattle and sees 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, and romance, can push aside the curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all the world there is nothing else as real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God, he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten-thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
