The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-12-10
OLD SANTA CLAUS LIVES.
He EXISTS as Certainly as Love and Gen.
erOsity and Devotion Exist.


erosity and Devotion Exist.
In this day of cynicism and
friv5lity, when little children are
treated as young grown up peopIe
and have never heard of Mother
Goose and Uncle Remus, and have
never been taught that sweetest
faith in Santa Claus, it is like find.
ing sunbeam on a dark dav IN
come across this acticle in the New
York Sun. 1t should take the old
married people back to their child
hood and make them look more
carefully into their nurseries, and
hear the children's chatter, whether
they believe in Santa Claus:
1--WE take pleasure in answering
at once and thus prominently the
communication below, expressing
at the same time our great gratificao
ton that its faithful author is num-
bered among the friends of the Sun.
"'Dear Editor: 1 am 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,
"'ll5 West Ninety-fifth street,
''Virginia, your little friends are
wrong. They have been affected
by the skepticism of skeptial age,
They do not believe except they see.
They think that nothing can be
which is not comprehensive bv
their little minds. All minds, Viz
ginia, whether they be mems or
children's, are little. In this great
universe of ours man is a mere in
sect, an ant, in his intellect. as com
pared with the boundless world
about him, as measured by the in
telligence capable of grasping the
whole of truth and knowledge.
Eyes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus. He exists as certainly as
love and generosity and devotion
exist, and you know that thev
abound and give to your life its
highest beauty and joy. Alasl how
dreary would be the world if there
were no Santa Claus. 1t would be
as dreary as if there were no Vir-
ginias. There would be no child
like faith then, 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 we'll 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 can
see. Did you ever see fairies dane
ing 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.
EYou may 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, ro-
nance, can push aside that curtain
and view and picture the supernal
beauty and glory beyond. Is it all
real? All, Virginia, in all this world
there is nothing else real and abid
ing.
mo Santa Claus! Thank God!
he lives, and 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"