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IsThereaSantaClaus

Is There a Santa Claus?

by Francis Pharcellus Church

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently

the communication below, expressing at the same time our great

gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the

friends of T HE S UN:

"D EAR E DITOR: I am 8 years old.

"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

"Papa says 'If you see it in T HE S UN it's so.'

"Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?

"V IRGINIA O'H ANLON.

"115 W EST N INETY-FIFTH STREET."

V IRGINIA, 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

comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, V IRGINIA,

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, V IRGINIA, 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 V IRGINIAS. 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.

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 they

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 may 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, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that

curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory

beyond. Is it all real? Ah, V IRGINIA, in all this world there is

nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank G OD! he lives, and he lives forever. A

thousand years from now, V IRGINIA, nay, ten times ten thousand

years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of

childhood.

("Is There a Santa Claus?" was the headline that appeared

over an editorial in the September 21, 1897 edition of The New Y

ork Sun. The editorial, which included the response of "Yes,

Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," has become an indelible part of

popular Christmas lore in the United States.)

Introductory Remarks