The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1919-12-18
Is There q
Santa Claus?
Classic Answer OF q Nesp
York Journalist Affirming
O Little Girls Belief

r. NE of the finest things ever
/" written about Christmas was
- the editorial printed 20 years
81 ago by the New York Sun in
answer to the earnest appeal of a little
New York girl to be told whether
Santa Claus really exists. Its author,
Frank P. Church, was an accomplished
journalist and wrote much on many
subjects, but his fame will rest chiefly
on this beautiful setting forth of an
eternal truth. With DR.. Clement Clarke
Moore's "a Visit From st. Nicholas"
it is one of the great classics of the
Christmas season.
The answer to the eternal question
as printed in the Sun follows:
"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-I am eight years old.
Some of my little friends say there Is
no Santa Claus. Papa says: If you
see 1t in the Sun it's SO. Please tell
me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLoN.
"T15 West Ninety-frst Street
"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 a mere
insect, an ant, in his intellect, as com.
pared with the boundless world about
him, as measured by the intelligence
capable of grasping the whole truth
and knowledge.
Eyes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus. He exists as certainly al love
and generosity and devotion exist, and
you know that they abound and give
to your life its highest beauty and joy,
-Alasl How dreary would be the world
If there were no Santa Claus! 1t would
be as dreary as If there were no Vir-
giniaS. 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 childhood fills the world would
be extinguished.
mot believe in Santa Claus! You
might as well not believe In fairies
You might get your papa to hire men
to watch in all the chimneys on Christ
mas eve to catch Santa Claus, but ever
if they did not see Santa Claus com
ing down, what would that prove? No
body sees Santa Claus, but that is nc
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 nc
proof that they are not there. Nobody
can conceive or imagine all the won
ders that are unseen and unseeable In
the world.
you may tear apart the baby's rat
tie and see what makes the noise In
side, but there is a veil covering the
unseen world which not the strongest
man, nor wen the united strength OF
all the 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. Ii
II all real? All, Virginia, in all this
world there is nothing else real and
abiding.
mo Santa Claus! Thank God. hi
lives and he lives forever. A thousand
years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times
10000 years from now, he will con
tinue TO hake glad the heart Of child
hood"
Al