Is there really a Santa Claus?
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
Originally published in The New York
Sun in 1897. We take pleasure in answering 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?
Signed Virginia O'Hanlon The answer as published in the New York
Sun was: 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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