Evening star., 1935-12-22
SANTAL|VED IN 81;
SHE DOUBTSIT NOW.
Girl Who Inspired Famous
Editorial Answers 39
Years Later.
By the Associated Press

0y bUc AoSOCAdtCu E4Coo.
NEW YORK, December 21.-A quiet,
graying woman, who as little girl in
1897 inspired the classic editorial in
the old New York Sun. "IS There q
Santa Claus?". sat today in her ONCE
in the heart Of one of Manhattan's
slums and told why her belief in Santa
Claus has been shaken.
She is Mrs. Edward Douglas, now
assistant principal of public school
on the lower East Side, a melancholy,
crusted building which squats in a tier
of dreary tenements.
In 1897, as Virginia O'Hanlon, then
years old, she scrawled letter to
the New York Sun, asking if her play
mates were telling the truth when
they said there wasn't any Santa
Claus.
The answering editorial, written by
Frank Church, was deemed such
work of beauty that it has been re-
printed thousands of times and has
become one of the most widely known
pieces Of newspaper writing in
America.
mo Santa Clause it concluded,
''Thank God, he lives, and he lives
forever! A thousand years from now
he will continue to make glad the
heart of childhood"
That was written SO years ago, but
Virginia O'Hanlon. mother of a grown
daughter herself, believes now that if
Santa Claus does continue to live, he
lives only in the Imagination of child
hood, and seldom in the heart.
Il still keep my faith in the ulti-
mate kindness of human nature" she
said. but how can I, or any one, be-
lieve in the Santa I knew as child
when there is so much misery and
suffering in the world?
IF Santa lives today, he lives only
in the childish joy of those he has
made happy. How can he live in the
crying hearts Of those he has for
saken?
Hundreds "SObbIng in the Night"
Little children, such as I was, trust
in Santa Claus as a miraculous mu-
nificence through which all things are
made possible. There will be tree,
there will be loved ones about, gayety
and cherished toys that have been
dreamt about for months.
Those whom Santa visits think of
Christmas as a beautiful, sacred oc-
casion, which it should be-but today
too seldom IS.
But for every child tucked into bed
(hrie%Vooc V,inlNf v-ith 1iE inU
there are hundreds, no, thousands,
who huddle in ragged bed clothing,
sobbing in the night at a faith at best
cruel.
How can we say today that Santa
will continue to make glad the heart
of childhood, as long as groWn-ups in
the selfish pleasure of giving to their
own continue to forget the wretched-
ness of shattered childish faith? So
long will Santa Claus live only to sad
den the heart of childhood.
Look out of my window here.
What do you see? Fire escapes,
garbage, squalor and misery. The
spirit of Christmas is only a bitter
travesty.
Little Annie, in grade B, sleeps
every night under a pile of rags.
have seen her. Tommy, over there,
has only one pair of shoes. He stuffs
paper in them in Winter because the
Soles are worn through. Stella, that
little girl with the ragged sleeve, was
out of school for weeks with pneu-
monia, which she got because that
coat she is wearing was all she had to
sleep under at night.
Charities? Certainly there are
charities and they do splendid work
But can they gladden. the heart of
childhood? At best they can give only
practical, necessary things to the chill
dren, with maybe a bag Of candy at
Christmas.
TITS toys and dolls and drums,
and boats and wagons that gladden.
the heart of childhood. What child
cares about sleeping IN rags so long
as Santa has not forgotten that he
wrote and asked for a toy whistle?
"Grown-ups do not make mockery
Of Santa Claus Willingly. They only
forget, and that is human. The psy-
biologists now tell us that child is
mentally deficient today if he does not
doubt the existence of Santa Claus
before his 9th birthday. Here are
children who know there isn't any
Santa Claus the day after the first
Christmas they are able to remember.
How can we make Santa Claus
live again? Ask just one needy child
what toy he wants Santa to bring
him. Then see that Santa does not
forget"