Arizona republican., 1909-12-23
Is There a Santa Claus?

me Cnrlstmds season brings proD- iems of its own. And pressing enough are the questions relating to the tact ful selection of appropriate gifts. the necessity confronting the feminine household of finding the time neces- sary for projected neediework, and the desirability of making dollars go as far as they may. But to the fathers and mothers of the tots of six and seven there is no question so embarrassing as the oft reiterated inquiry: "Is there real, sure enough Santa Claus?"
 To the troubled in spirit we com mend the answer made by the late Charles A. Dana, many years ago, in the New York Sun, to this age-old question which had been propounded to him in a letter from a little girl. She knew that her father considered the Sun infallible, and as she had been unable to get anything but un- satisfactory and evasive answers from her parents. it occurred to her that she would get the great editor of the Sun to settle the problem for her. She wrote:
 Dear Editor-I am eight years old.
 Some of my little friends say that 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."
 The Suns answer is a classic:
 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 comprehensible by their little minds All minds. Virginia, whether they be mems or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him. as measured by the in- telligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge
 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life it's highest beauty and joy Alas. how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then; no poetry: no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoy ment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. might as we'll not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch all your 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 dancing on the lawn? Of course not But that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can con- ceive or imagine all the wonders there are until seen and until seeable in the world.
 You 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 men that ever lived could strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived. could tear apart. only faith, fancy, poetry. love. TO- nance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? An, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
 No Santa Claus? Thank God, he lives. and he lives forever. A thou sand years from now, Virginia; nay. ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood"
 The City Club.