Evening star., 1949-12-25
lust Between
Yourselves
BY Philip H. Love-

fThtS column, nTSt puoESHeG
December II, 1889, has been re-
printed nearly every year since
then at the suggestion OF read
ers. Parents, teachers and
others haze said they regard it
as fine explanation OF the
true Christmas SpiritJ
what can't understand" .
little girl said to me the other day,
"is how Santa Claus can be in so
many different places at the same
time. Three girls in my class
went shopping yesterday. All three
told me today that they had seen
Santa, yet they all went to dif-
ferent department stores. They
must have seen him at about the
same time, too,> because they all
went downtown right after
school,"
"And what you want to know is
which one saw the real Santa?"
I asked.
"Yes," the girl answered. That
and how he could be in all three
stores at the same time"
Santa Is . Spirit.
"Well, they all saw the real
Santa" said. You see, he isn't
an ordinary man. In fact. he
isn't a man at all; he's spirit"
"You mean-a ghost?"
"No, not a ghost. There are no
such things as ghosts. A spirit is
well, God is a spirit. You've
never seen God, have you?"
mo, but I understand about
Him being a spirit. He's every
where, even though you can't see
Him"
well, Santa is everywhere. too.
OF course, he isn't anything like
God, but he's a spirit, just the
same-a happy. kindly spirit, who
shows himself everywhere during
the Christmas season. He can be
right here in this room, or down
the street, or even in another part
of the world, all at the same time.
He can be wherever people want
him to be-wherever people have
the real Christmas spirit"
Has to Be Wanted.
The girl thought the matter over
| for a few moments. Il can un-
derstand all that" she finally said.
"It's Just like when I sit down in
nv room and make believe I'm
somewhere else-you know, just
sort of day dreaming. Sometimes
I pretend I'm in or, or in Won
derland, and if I think real hard
it's almost the same as if I were
really in one of those places. Only
with Santa I guess he can be any
place at all without thinking very
much about it. Is that it?"
That's it, all right" I agreed.
Except that Santa has to be
wanted. He never gees where he
isn't wanted. When people allow
themselves to become mean and
selfish, when they stop thinking
about Santa. stop loving him and
wishing for him to come-then he
doesn't come any more"
Why He Looks Different.
! "It's wonderful, isn't it?" she
laughed. II mean that he can go
everywhere at the same time. just
by thinking-just by knowing that
he's wanted. But"-the laugh was
replaced by puzzled frown-"why
is 1t that he doesn't always look
exactly the same? I've seen him
twice this year. in two different
stores. and he looked little diff
ferent each time"
| do you always look exactly the
same? For that matter, do you
always even feel the same?"
well, no. I don't" she admitted
slowly. "Some days T feel happy
and full of pep, and I guess look
the same way, and other days I
feel and look altogether different. !"
Everybody does - Santa, per-
haps, more than anybody else. be-
cause, you know, he's q spirit.
He's something like the air We
breathe. It's the same air all over
the world, but in some places it's
cold and in others hot, in some
places dry, in others gusty. A
spirit can appear in thousands.
even millions. of places at the
same time and be little different
In each place. AS a matter of fact.
Santa Claus always looks the
same, because he is the same:
It's the people to whom he ap-
pears that are different-because.
as q spirit. he naturally reflects
some Of their spirit, too.'
"Gee!" the girl exclaimed, clap
ping her hands. "Wait till tell
my girl friends!"
| The official flower of the Ha-
waiian Islands is the hibiscus.
Other commonly grown flowers Of
the islands are oleanders, poin-
settias. bougainyilleas and night