The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-12-19
This moral to the tale I give
Live not to eat, but eat to live.
A PLEA FOR SANTA CLAUS.


York Sun, who wrote the following
answer to little girl asking if there
was Santa Claus. died last year, and
it is a strange thing that of all the
brilliant and learned articles he wrote
during his many years as an editor
this little "credo" on Santa Claus is
the only one that has lived longer
than he.
1t was quoted when he died as the
most popular editorial that ever ap-
peared in the .Snn-which helps to
prove that it is what goes to the heart
that men and women like best, and
that the hearts of most people are in
the right place, if one knows how to
find it This editorial has been quot
ed so often that it has almost become
a classic, but it is so good that it de-
serves to be passed on still further
'We take pleasure in answering at
once, and thus prominently, the COM
munication below, expressing at the
same time our great qualification that
its faithful author is numbered
among the friends of the Snn:
"DEAR EDIToR-I am eight years old. Some
of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus
Papa says If you see it in the Sun, its so Please
tell me the truth. Is there 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 they see.
They think that nothing can be which
is not comprehensive by their little
minds. All minds, Virginia, whether
they be mems or children's are little.
In this great universe of ours man is
mere insect, an ant. in his intellect,
as compared with the boundless world
about him, as measured by the intel
ligence capable of grasping the whole
of truth and knowledge.
eyes, Virginia, there is 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 10y. Alas how dreary would
be the world if there were no Santa
Claus! 1t would be as dreary as II
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 eternal light with which child
hood fills the world would be extin-
guished.
ssNot 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,
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 moi
there. Nobody can convince or i'm
agine all the wonders that are unseen
aud unseenable in the world.
"You may tear apart the baby
rattle and see what makes the noise
inside, but there is a veil covering
the unseen world which not the strong
est man, nor even the united strength
of all the strongest men that evel
lived, could tear apart. Only faith
fancy, poetry, love, romance, car
push aside that curtain and view ano
picture the supernatural beauty and
glory beyond. 1t is all real Ah,
Virginia, in all this world there il
nothing else real and abiding.
''No Santa Claus Thank God,
he lives forever A thousands years
from now, Virginia, nay, ten times
ten thousand years from now, he viii
continue to make glad the heart O
childhood"