Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently
the communication below, expressing at the
same time our great gratification that its
faithful author is numbered among the friends
of The Sun:
Dear Editor---
I am 8 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 comprehensible by their little
minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they
be men's or children's, are little. In this
great universe of ours, man is a mere insect,
an ant, in his intellect as compared with
the boundless world about him, as measured
by the intelligence capable of grasping the
whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He
exists as certainly as love and generosity
and devotion exist, and you know that they
abound and give to your life its highest
beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be
the world if there were no Santa Claus! It
would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.
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 external light with
which childhood fills the world would be
extinguished. Not 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 Christmas eve to catch
Santa Claus, but even if you did not see
Santa Claus coming down, what would that
prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that
is no 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 no proof that they
are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine
all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable
in the world. You tear apart the baby's rattle
and see what makes the noise inside, but
there is a veil covering the unseen world
which not the strongest man, nor even the
united strength of all the strongest men
that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith,
poetry, love, romance, can push aside that
curtain and view and picture the supernal
beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real?
Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is
nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives
forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia,
nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will
continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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