Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-21
Science and Santa Claus
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them off the face of the earth, for
they have no business In world fuli
Of little boys and girls. And then
after New Year day when the
christmas trees are good and dry and
will burn like fury, we will make big
bonfire and throw-no, I mean hurl--
all their peSky literature and propa-
ganda stuff into the middle of it. and
YOU may be sure that is the last we
will ever hear of them in this world.
You need not be afraid. because. all
they have to put UP against us Is a
tin horn on which they tout some
thing about running the childs i'm
agination" and introducing him into
an unreal world" and things like that.
Well, you can show them your world
is Just as real as theirs, and a great
zeal happier.
Child Must Be Understood.
wouldn't mind all this so much,
children, if it we're not for the fact that
at the big conference on childhood
that President Hoover called to Wash
ington, right at his own home there
in the White House, they all agreed
on nineteen very definite principles as
the best way to make all children
healthy and happy. And the very first
principle they agreed on was this:
Every child has a right to be under
stood" President Hoover himself
agreed to that, and so did Mrs. Hoover,
and Secretary Wilbur and Miss Grace
Abbott, and all the wise people there.
And you know perfectly well that no.
body who ever understood the heart of
boy or girl wanted to kill Santa
Claus Nobody who ever was a boy or
girl would want to change the smiles
on his happy old face to the look of
pain and WEAKNESS and sorrow that
you see OH so many peoples faces
every day in the year, except the day
Santa Claus comes.
And on that day Santa sets people
to laughing who haven't laughed once
since last Christmas, and he wipes
away their tears and makes people
want to forgive their enemies and give
everybody presents, instead of keep
ing everything for themselves. and he
makes everybody want to make every
body else happy. And Santa teaches
that great big lesson of life-"real"
1ife-better than anybody-better than
those Joy Killers can teach it in any
way they can possibly think of.
And then, children, there is another
reason why I think folks are wrong
who are planning to kill Santa Claus.
And / will have to tell this reason
mostly to Dad and Mother, for you
will not fully understand it; but they
will, and they will tell you about it
as you grow older. That reason is
that I happen to be one of those
funny fellows who read eight or ten
technical journals and three or four
books every month on psychology and
experimental education, and several
journals, and some books, too, on BIZ
ology; and I tried my honest best to
understand what they were talking
oh A.
psychologists and biologists in America
and I get them to tell me what Is
what when I can't understand their
books.
Santa Claus Brings Happiness.
And what I want you to know is
that I can't find anywhere a single
tiny experiment or a statistical graph
showing what they call the "frequen-
coef1cient" of boys and girls who have
been ruined by believing in a real-for-
sure Santa Claus
just can't find a single case where
they have proved by experiment or
by a study of behavior reactions" or
anything of the kind that any boy
has learned to lie or cheat or steal
or that any girl has gone the easiest
way to the hardest end because they
Santa would feel If he thought he had
done that! He couldn't believe his
ears In fact, one great lesson Santa
Claus teaches you is that it is Just
because he has never done those
things himself or brought anything
but smiles and good will to people
that he is so happy and healthy him
self
Furthermore. I cannot find a single
reputable psychologist or educator who
mas printed single research that has
SHOWN that "the Santa Claus myth"
has caused any boys or girls to grow
up historical or dreamy, or "given to
reverie," or caused them to shrink
from realities" or to show pathology
cal manifestations" or behavior de-
v1ations," or social Embellishments. !"
or any of those very sad things that
some children do develop. My own
guess would be that a hundred times
as many boys and girls have de-
yeloped social Embellishments" and
behavior deviations" because they
never had any Santa Claus as have
developed these things because they
did have him and all the happy.
beautiful things he stands for and
carries with him everywhere he goes.
If these sour-faced people could
SHOW several millions of young people
VINO had grown up to be wonderful
people and "free from unfavurable
complexes' just because they had
never believed in Santa Claus, the
matter would be different. But since
you and can show several millions of
children made happy-and older folks
mace happy, too, because the older
foiks had to help him with all his
WORK, and help make all the presents
and help cut down the Christmas
Irees and help arrange the family re-
unions and the big Christmas dinners,
All Of which I think helps wonder
1ully IN promoting a true democracy
since We can show all that to dear
olo Santa's credit, think we have the
pest of the argument and all they
nave Is unsupported opinion.
Men Require Illusions.
And here is another reason that
mother and dad will have to explain TO
you why think modern psychology be-
Leves IN real Santa Claus. Maybe
you VIII be in high school or college be-
lore you fully understand 1t, or maybe
you VIII have 10 wait until your own
cnlld dies or some great sorrow over
whelmS your life before you will truly
grasp its meaning But that reason is
one OF the biggest discoveries of psy-
chology; it is the discovery that man
cannot live without illusions. / remem-
Der when Helen Clemens died She was
Mark Twain's daughter, and died when
she was only 10. Some friend came To
console him, and the great philosopher
Tor he was very great philosopher
lifted his anguished but smiling face
and said softly I'm glad she died be-
fore she lost her illusions" Why, dear
children, that IS Just what these hard