Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus
First printed in the New York Sun, September 21, 1897.
We take 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:
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,
115 West 95th Street.
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 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 was 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 eternal 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 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 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 that 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, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside
that curtain and view and picture the supernatural
beauty and glory beyond. Is it real? Ah, Viginia, in
all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever.
A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10
thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad
the heart of childhood.
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