The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1905-12-22
In the Defense of GA Grand
Old Man"

Al bh IL HttCNSdIN u com Ddl the
efforts Of those who would have
the world reject the grand old
man.
The world is growing too old
and too wise for Santa Claus. 1t
has made up its mind that it
Will have none of him" This is
IA sample of the statements made
10y the Skepiics of this period.
y New York newspaper sums
mp the arguments made by the
enemies Of Santa ClaaS III this
way:
1t is said that Santa Claus is
childish. that Santa Claus is IRE
ligiOus, that Santa Claus is IA de
fusion, that Santa Claus is trivial,
silly. pagan, misleading to the
mind of the child.
educators have denied the
very existence of Santa Claus
aud protested against the telling
of the old Santa Claus stories on
the ground that they are all lies.
"ReligionistS have attacked
him violently with the accusation
that he is only pagan myth,
and that he abstracts the minds
of children from the real meaning
and purpose OF Christmas.
The Board of Education h As
turned cold shoulder to him
They have not forbidden him
entrance to the school, but their
rules governing Christmas are all
against him. They have not leg.
lSlated to keep him out, but the
rules against Christmas trees,
the regulations forbiddlng any
religious exercises and the grow
ing prejudice against school
entertainments are all cOnSplr.
ing to force him from the public
schools.
"Eren the Sunday Schools
the last stronghold-have begun
to frame up acts of exclusion.
Some of the ministers think that
the lesson of the Christmas
manager is forgotten in the hope
of the Christmas pack. Some of
them have made the danger of
fire from Christmas trees the APP
parent reason for excluding him
from their Sunday School rooms.
Others think that the money eX.
pended on the parish children
could be better distributed among
the AFFECT poor.
1.-The truth tellers have
mighty argument built up to sup
port their contention. They say
that when the child's world is
peOpled with the sort of folk
that one must lie awake at night
to seas one does for Santa
Claus on Christmas Eve = he
must grow up under the diSad-
vantage of having at every step
to free his mind from IA delu.
sion, an error, wrong belief.
"They say that the child whose
father or mother has told him
that Santa Claus and the fairies
really live, must as his knowl-
edge and experience increases,
gradually grow to distrust the
WORT OF his parents, to believe
himself delnded 10y them in other
more important facts Of life.
They say that it is a humiliation
for the child to find that a decep-
ton has been practiced against
him, just as it would for an older
person. They say, moreover,
that it is an insult to the intel
ligence Of the child to ask him
to place his faith in anything
that is not strictly true. and
they appeal to the science of
ethics to prove their arguments.n
After presenting in very
feeble sort of way the arguments
OF "thOse who declare that Santa
Claus is real,' this New York
newspaper concludes: But on
the whole the truth tellers have
by far the best of it. This is
practical age and the tendency is
toward bald, bare, absolute truth
IN everything"
But the truth tellers are Ger
talnly not among those who are
SO 'all-tired" practical that they
make bold. through a mistaken
notion Of duty, to deny the ex-
istence of Santa Claus.
According to this New York
newspaper the truth tellerSn
say that "when the child's world
is peOpled with the sort OF folk
that one must lie awake at night
to seas one does for Santa
Claus on Chrirtmas Eve-he must
grow up under the disadvantage
OF having at every step to free
his mind from delusion, an
error, wrong belief.n Well, the
child's world in all the years of
ChriStendom has been peopled
with just that sort of folk; in all
the years of Christendom little
children on Christmas Eve have
showed the "sand man" farther