Back in 1897 little eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter
to the New York Sun in which she asked whether or not there was a
Santa Claus.
Her letter and its reply has since become world famous. We are
reprinting the letter and the Editor’s answer.
Dear Editor:
I am eight 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 skepticism of a skep
tical 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
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 toler
able this existence. We should have no enjoyment
except in sense and sight. The eternal light with
which childhood fills the world would be ex
tinguished. 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 ima
gine all the wonders there are unseen and unsee
able in the world. You tear apart the baby’s rattle
to 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 pic
ture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it
all real? Oh, Virginia, in all this world there is
nothing else real and abiding.
"No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and he
lives forever. A thousand years from now, Vir
ginia, nay ten times ten thousand years from now,
he will continue to make glad the heart of child
hood.”
(Originally printed September 21, 1897 in The
Sun, New York.)
In the Austrian village of Hallein on Christmas eve, 1818, the
schoolmaster, Franz Gruber, composed a hymn called "Song of
Heaven,” and sang it in church the following night. A man from
a nearby town happened to hear it and, being impressed, memorized
its words and music, which he later taught to a traveling quartet.
By 1854, thirty-six years later, the piece had become so famous
throughout the world that a search was made for its unknown com
poser, and Gruber was found. The obscure and impoverished school
master then learned that his song had become the most beloved
church hymn of all time, and that its name had been changed to
"Silent Night.”
. . . The Ashlar
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