The Irish standard., 1905-12-23
DEFENSE OF SANTA CLAUS.

DEFENSE OF SANTA CLAUS.
This is the time of the year that Is
of particular interest to little chill
dren. If it were not for the children
Christmas would mean little in many
homes. In this age of materialisn
there is an ever increasing number
who question and even deny the sim.
pie story of Bethlehem. There are
many who look upon the story of the
birth Of Christ as fiction. no longe,
interesting. This class is composed Of
those who assume great learning and
wisdom. They arrive at their conclu.
sions about Christmas and its stories
from the hard and cruel standpoint Of
human experience. 1t is, as rule
the simple common everyday men and
women in the grown-up world who
believe in God and rely upon the re-
vealed facts concerning the birth OF
Jesus Christ. The very same class
of people who would destroy the Joy
of the story for the grown-up world
are arso those who would do away with
the Christmas of little children; they
would destroy Santa Claus. In their
great wisdom they maintain that par
ents should not tell untruths to their
children. Even Sunday schools have
commenced to object to the Santa
Claus idea. Danger Of fire from Christ
mas trees, the amount Of money ex-
pended on gifts which might be used
for the relief Of the poor, and other
objections are urged for the purpose
of doing away with the children's
Christmas. The truth tellers who
have made such mighty mistake
about the real story of Christmas are
also bent upon taking away from the
child-world one of its greatest sources
of happiness. We desire to present in
this connection defence for Santa
Claus put forward by Richard Met
calfe in The Commoner, as an answer
to those who insist upon the telling of
absolute truth to little children: "Ac-
cording to New York newspaper the
'truth-tellers' say that when the chill
dren's world is peopled with the sort
of folk that one. must stay awake at
night to seas .one does for Santa
Claus on Christmas Eve-he must grow
up under the disadvantage of having
at every step to free his mind from
delusion, an error, wrong. belief.
Well the chiid's world in all the years
of Christendom has been filled with
just that sort Of folk; in all the years
Of Christendom little children on
Christmas Eve have showed the sand
man" farther and farther away and
have strained their little ears in their
effort to hear the footsteps Of the good
old Saint whose existence, as at whose
coming, they have never for a moment
doubted. Yet during all these years
children have grown to manhood and
womanhood and they have never
found themselves handicapped in the
struggle Of the great duties OF life be-
cause they spent their childhood with
in the hallowed precincts where the
existence Of Santa Claus was recog-
nized and the skeptic is barred.
Kris Kringle" is the Patron Saint
in Germany and 1t is known by the
we'll informed in that portion of the
earth that he actually made his rounds
on Christmas Eve and dropped down
the chimney for, the good and obe-
dent. In Russia 1t is Saint Nicholas.
and it is not denied that he was a
real man who lived about 300 A. D.
We are told that this man was q
noted bishop whose name, because Of
his good deeds and generous acts, be-
came a synonym for kindness and gen.
erosity. According to one story Of this
good old Saint, clad in fur from top
to toe, was in the habit Of going
around in sleigh drawn by fleet
footed RENDERS. From one Of his
thoughtful acts came the custom of
hanging up stockings on Christmas
Eve. 1t is said that poor nobleman
in Russia having no money with which
to provide marriage bowers for his
three daughters, was about to
force them to support themselves
by a degraded life. st Nicholas
learning the facts. passed the
nobleman's house one Christmas Eve
and threw purse Of gold shaped as
a slipper through the window. On
the following night the second daugh-
ter received similar gift and the
third night the youngest daughter de-
tected the good old Saint throwing q
stocking filled with gold into her win.
dow. In this way dover was provided
for each daughter and from these Incl.
dents is said to have grown the Gus.
tom of placing gifts in shoes and
stockings on Christmas Eve. From
these reputable ancestors the SAINTS
Claus Of today is descended.
Don't let them fool you, children!
He is not q myth; the so-called truth
tellers to the contrary notwithstanding
.e Is a real being who acts and q
ong in his personality. 30 inspiring
his characteristics that he sway
{. arts of men in every cline wher,
5cifix 10 the emblem and Chris