The sun., 1918-07-07
Work of Edward
P. Mitchell and
His Associates on
theEditorial Staff
How Fiction
Was Welcomed in
the Papers Col.
umns and Some
Examples


prehensib,e by their little minds All
minds, Virginia. whether they be men,
or children's, are little In this great uni
verse OF ours man is n mere insect a,
| ant, in his intellect, as compared with
| the boundless world about him. as meas
ured by the intelligence capable Of grasp.
Ing the whole OF truth and knowledge
Yes Virginia. there is a Santa Claus
He exists as certainly as love and gen
erosity and devotion exist. and you know
| that they abound and give to your lie
it's highest beauty and Joy. Alas. how
dreary would be the world II there vera
no Santa Claus IL would be as drearv
as II there were no Virgnias There
would be no childlike faith then. no DO
etry, no romance. to make tolerable thu,
existence. We should have no enjoy.
ment except in sense and sight The
eternal light with which childhood NEs
the world would be extinguished
Not believe in Santa Claus! You Nigh,
as we'll not believe in fairies! You might
get your papa TO hire men to watch in
all the chimneys on Christmas eve 10
catch Santa Claus. but even II they did
not see Santa Claus coming down. what
would that prove? Nobody sees Santa
Claus. but shat Is no sign that there Is
no Santa Claus. The most real things
In the world are those that neither chill
dren nor men 'can see. Did you ever
see fairies dancing on the lawn? or
course not. but that's no proof that they
are not there. Nobody can conceive or
imagine all the wonders there are unseen
and unseeable In the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and
see what makes the noise inside. but
there is veil covering the unseen
world which not the strongest man. nor
even the united strength of all tho
strongest men that ever lived, could tear
apart. Only faith. fancy. poetry, love-
romance. can push aside that curtain
and view and picture the supernal
beauty and glory beyond. Is 1t all real7
All. Virginia, in all this world there Ia
nothing else real and abiding
No Santa Claus! Thank God. he
lives. and he lives forever thousand
years from now. Virginia. nay. ten
times ten thousand years from now, he
will continue to make glad the heart OF
childhood
Church, as one intimate wrote upon
his DEATH after more than thirty years
with THE Sun, had all the literary
gifts, 'the tender fancy, the sympa-
thetic understanding OF human ma
ture the humor, now wistful now joy.
Gus, the unsurpassed delicacy {.
touch"
In dramatic criticism, where THE
Sun has required from its writers
somewhat more than the mere ability
to praise or blame, its roster bears
such names as Frank Bowman, Will
lard Bartlett. Elihu Root. William
Stewart "Walsingham'). who was the
first of the dramatic critics to adopt
an intimate style; Andrew Carpenter
Wheeler, better known to the public
under his pen name Of "Nym Crinkle,'
whose reviews were feature of the
Sunday issue OF THE Sun; William VI.
Laffan, the always brilliant and some
times caustic: Franklin F'yles. VINO
wrote plays as we'll as reviews Of
plays: John Corbin, the scholarly ana
lyst; Walter Prichard Eaton, author
OF THE American Stage of To-day'
and Lawrence Reamer, who has been
with THE SuN az reporter or critic for
a quarter of century
In criticism of opera and other mus.
cal events THE Sun. through the writ
in2s OF William ]. Henderson has
pleased the general public as we'll as
the musicians, and has added many
sound and scholarly chapters to nees-
paper literature.
In book reviewing a hundred pens
have served THE Sun. Hazeltine, + ?.
Mitchell Willard Bartlett, Erasmus y
Beach George Bendelari. Miss Dana
Gatlin, II. NJ. Anderson and Grant NJ
Overton are but few of the men and
women who have told SvN readers
what's worth while
For Sun reporters the Sunday paper
has been favorable field for an eN-
cursion into fiction writing In It's
columns a man with a tale to tell has
every chance. There William Norr
gave in his Pearl OF Chinatown The
real atmosphere of little part Of New
York that once held romance. It was
for THE SUNDAY Sun that Edward W.
Townsend created his celebrated char
acters, Chimmie Fddden. Miss F1HH
Mr.. Paul and the rest of that happl N
slangy, family. Clarence l.. Cullen
laid bare the soul OF alcoholic adyer-
turers in his Tales of the EX-Tanhs
Ed Mott made famous the bears "
Pike county. Pa. David A. curtis o
lated the gambling ways of Old No"
GrCcnldr and his associates. charles
Lynch conferred the title OF the pHN'
of Essex Street upon an obscure law
yer and made him the talk Of the East
Side Joseph Goodwin brought to the
notice OF an ignorant world the wa>s
Of Sdrsdpdrilld Reilly and other Iar'
Row restaurant heroes.
David Graham Phillips Samie'
Hopkins Adams and other men dcs'
tined to be known through their hooks
the yarns-sometimes fact turncU mo
fiction, sometimes fiction masked -
fact-that kept the readers of IHE
SUNDAY Sun from getting out into iae
open air
OF such things as we have men
toned here, putting into the necessary
news, a.t-actively written, proper
seasoning of regional color and atm -
phere, humor and pathos, The SiN
has been made since Dana came - '''
He created new journalism, hut "
was a decent and distinct kind. ap-
pealing to the intellect rather than u
the passions. II gave room r.. 'H'
honest expression Of everybody : o0In
ion. from Herbert Spencer TO Chtm""
Fodden. Because of this, because p"
had lifted American newspaper "o'h
out of the dust OF tradition. Dana nan
holy anger when newer journalism
tried to throw II into the mud
TO be con ciuded in nCrt Sundhy.s So