The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-12-22

siderable pressure TO get the cover
down where u could be nailed but
after three or four days knocking
around By neglect of the carrier 70
deliver them they came out looking as
fresh as could be. II thsy had been
loosely packed. they would have bsen
In extremely cold weather I have
found II q good practice 10 put In the
boxes with the flowers tightly corked
bottles of hot water.--Garden Maya
zine. -
| A CHnTBrMAs CLASSIC.
Several years ago, the editor OF Tine
New York Sun received q letter from .
little girl asking him IL there Is Q
| Santa Claus. His answer at once be-
| caame q Christmas classic. and thous-
| ands of requests are made, each year
| for its reproduction. which follows:
I'VE take pleasure In answering al
| once and thus prominently the COM
munication below. expressing at the
same time our qualification that tts
| faithful author il numbered among the
| friends OF The Sum
II Dear editor: I am eight years old
Some OF my little friends say that
| there IL no Santa Claus.
Papa says Il you see It In The Sun
it's so.
PLEASE tell me the truth: is there q
| Santa Claus? " Virginia OHanlon.
niis, west Ninety nfth street
virginia, your little friends are
| wrong They have been affected by the
skepticism OF q skeptical age They
| do not believe except they see. They
think that nothing can be which 4
minds. All minds. virginis, whether
they be men's or chiidrenrs. 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 inteili-
gence capable of xrasping the whole
| truth ana knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there Is q 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 IL there were no Santa Claus
| 1t would be as dreary as II there were
| no virginias. There would be nc
| child-1ike faith then; no poetry; NO
romance to make tolerabie this exist
ence.s We should have no enjoyment
except in sense. and, sight. The eternal
light with which childhood fils the
world would be extinguished
K s wv NStitfo fAA*fsHAitH N<A1aaf w
might as wen not believe. in fairies
You might get yon papa TO hire men to
watch all your chimnays on Christmas
| Eve to catch Santa Claus but even II
| they did not see Santa Claus coming
| down. what would that, prove? Nobody
sees Santa Claus. but that Is no sign
| that there 10 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 conceive or imagine all the won
ders there are until seen and until see
able In the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rat
tie and see what makes the noise In
side. but there is veil covering the
unseen world which not the strongest
| man. nor even the united strength of
all the strongest men that ever lived,
could tear apart, Only faith, sfaney.
poetry, love. romance, can push aside
that curtain and view and picture the
supernal beauty and glory beyond Is
1t all real? All, Virginia, in all this
world there is nothing else real and
abiding
mo Santa Claus? Thank God, ne
lives, and he lives forever. A thousand
years from now. Virginia; nay. ten
times ten thousand years from now. he
Will continue to make glad the heart
of childhood"