Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa
Claus
Editorial Page, New York Sun,
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?
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, 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.
Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year!!!!
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