The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-12-20
LET US KEEP SANTA CLAUS.

For weeks past, and for days to
come, the little tots have been and
will be talking, thinking and dream
ing of Santa Claus. Every day we
see them fattening their noses against
the panes of the show window, or be-
hold them being dragged willingly
up, down and across streets, in and
out of stores, till their little legs are
weary. But they are eager for the
task, as they wish to see what Santa
Claus has in his stores this year and
they must get some ideas as to what
additions to make to the list of their
wants now yards long. All normal
and healthy babies or young children
are in state Of hope and expecta-
ton. But we are sorry to say there
will be certain number of innocent
little ones solemnly told by their un-
imaginative parents that there is no
Santa Claus and that all the good
-.A-:--A & 1l--o1d r,,or, ora c;Ilx,
| falsehoods. We pity such cheer1ess
babies and give our profound sympa
thy to such foolish parents. These
children OH Christmas day will receive
All unusually large number of toys
and other things, with the bare ex-
planation that it is proper that these
presents should be made upon the
day. The true spirit of the gifts in
cold, truthful words would not be
comprehended by the infant minds
and is not conveyed. If the parents
did adhere to their mistaken notion
of truth, they would make their ex-
planation that the custom of presents
at Christmas has prevailed so long
that they had not the courage to ig-
more it. And so to these children
the greatest day in the year for a
child-while it will be day of hap
piness for them, happy over SO many
new toys, it will be lacking in the
joys Of dreaming, expectation and
participation in the true spirit of the
day which Christmas has for all the
other children in civilized climes.
Now a world without Imagination
would be a cold, cherries and even
non progressive one. 1t is we'll to be
truthful, but this can be taught with
out robbing life of all its beauty. In
the ordinary talk of the hour the
characters of fiction are as real to us
as those of flesh and blood who trod
the actual stage of life. In a sense
a child has more Imagination than an
adult. This we see in his play. The
boy will conjure up all kinds of fan
cies and make-believes and the little
girl can readily turn rag doll into
princess or fairy. Children will lis
ter gladly to long heroic poem or
play of Shakespeare. They may not
understand the words, but revel in
the story and plot. A child life is
one of sweet illusions. He plays
amid dreams. To deny a natural
craving that is innocent is cruel. The
plain, practical, fairyless world is not
ehi1d'o realm. IF there wers-nn
Santa Claus it would be necessary to
invent one. The old Puritans got
the mistaken idea into their heads that
because the class which lived richly
in their day was corrupt, it was neces-
sary, to be pure, to make life as harsh
as possible. The parents who wish
to abolish Santa Claus are the Puri-
tans of today. These unimaginative
folks have come to the conclusion that
what is not literally true is false. So
they endeavor to remove from their
lives as much of the beauty of illu-
sion as possible and reduce the earth
to plain, ugly ground. So they say,
Santa Claus, being one of the appar-
ent falsities of life, must go.
But on the other hand, the man
with poetry in his soul and rhythm
in his thoughts sees Santa Claus is
not an untruth. He is as real as
Hamlet, Macbeth or Micawber. He
is the symbol of joyful giving. Pa
rents may do his acts, but simply as
his agents. A child, at the age in
which Santa Claus is a real thing,
thinks almost entirely with his imag-
ination. He would be unable to COM
prehend the Yuletide spirit if told in
words of facts, and will miss it thro'
his imagination, which is led to ac-
cept the spirit in the form of Santa
Claus. There is the very best author
ity for the practice-the Bible-and
Santa Claus is merely parable for
children. The parents themselves
find it necessary to tell their children,
in fgurative language, facts which
would be dangerous and cruel knowl-
edge conveyed in the coolest, simplest
words. So we must retain Santa
Claus. To Danish him would deprive
children of one of their greatest joys
and most delightful illusions. Hap
PLY the kindly old man with his lit
tie round face and little round belly,
has too firm support in popular af-
fection to be dethroned. But his
crown should not be criticised at all
by Our truth-loving parents. Let
him reign universal and unchecked,
and delight millions of children for
centuries to come.-Lancastey (Pa.)
Examiner.
MAKING A HOME
| When man saws that wifehOOd is