Mexico weekly ledger., 1919-12-25
MEMORIAL OF THE CHRISTMAS
SEASON

SEASON.
AGAIN as in past years we have re-
ceived many requests for the re-
printing, at the Christmas season, of
the editorial entitled as There a
Santa Claus ?" which appeared orig
inally in the New York Sun. Its
author, the late Francis Pharcellus
Church, whose death occurred in 1906,
gave nearly half a century of faithful
service to the readers of the Army
and Navy Journal, continuing his bus
mess connection and valued advice to
that paper during his long years IF
service to the editorial department Of
the Sun. In Difference to the requests
we receive and to perpetuate the
memory of its author, we reprint the
article below:
is THERE A SANTA CLAUS?
We take pleasure in answering at
once and thus prominently the COM
m%unication below, expressing at the
same time our great qualification That
its faithful author is numbered among
the friends of the Sun:
Dear Editor: | am eight years old,
Some of my little friends say 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.
Virginia, your little friends are
wrong. They have been affected by
the scepticism of a sceptical 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 mar is a mert
insect, an ant, in his intellect, as com,
pared with the boundless world ABOUT
him las measured by the intelligence
capable of grasping the whole truth
and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus. He exists as certainly as love
and generosity and devotion exist, ant
you know that they abound and give
to your life its highest beauty ant
JOY. Alas! how dreary would be tn
world as if there were no Santa Claus
It would be as dreary as If there were
no Virginias. There would be NJ
childlike faith then no poetry, no 70
nance to make tolerable this eXis
tcnce. We should have no enjoyment
except in sense and sight. The eterna
light with which childhood fills tn
world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! 70
might as we'll not believe in fairies
You might get you papa to hire me
to watch in all the chimneys o
Christmas Eve to catch Santa Clau:
but even if they did not sc SAINT
Claus coming down, what would thu
prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, bu
but even if they did not see SAINT
Claus. The most real things in til
world are those that neither childre
nor men can see Did you ever Sc
fairids dancing on the lawn? 0
course no, but that's no proof tina
they are not there. Nobody a cen
ceive or imagine all the wonders ther
are unseen and unseeable in tn
world.
You may tear apart the baby's rat
tie and see what makes the noise insld
but there is a veil covering the unsee
world which not the strongest mar
nor ever the united strength of all tn
strongest men that ever lived, coul
tear apart, Only faith, fancy, poetry
love, romance, a push aside tina
curtain and view and picture the SUP
crnal beauty and glory beyond. Is
all real? All, Virginia, in all thi
world there is nothing else real an
abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God! II
lives, and he lives forever. A thous
and years from now, Virginia, nay
ten thousand years from now, he wi
continue to make glad the heart o
childhood.