Newspapers / Henderson Daily Dispatch (Henderson, … / Dec. 24, 1940, edition 2 / Page 1
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Hntitrrsmt Datlii <3tspatrii T\V ENTY-3EVENTH YEAR HENDERSON, N. C., TUESDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 24, 1940 FIVE CENTS COPY Bmi in 1897, little Virginia O HanJon wrote the following letter to the editor of the New ! orb Sun:''I am 8 years oil. Some of my ■ little frienJt say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, If you se* it in The Sun it's so.' Please tell me the truth — is there a Santa Claus?" The editor wrote a newspaper and literary classic in reply to this childish plea. It is reprinted here: ''Yes, indeed! W "Virginia, your little^r^ends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a\J' skeptical age—they do notTI: believe except what they see— " they think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their| little minds. J'l, ''All minds, Virginia, whetHer th^ be men's are* little. '"In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in. j | his intellect, as compared with ^' theNboundless world about him, as pleasured by the intelligence — V 1 / Ji. capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowled; "Yes, Virginia,-|there[ is—a , Santa Claus. s "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!1 how dreary would be the world . if there were no Santa ClaiisI It ^ would be as dreary as if there f were no Virginias. There would j be no childlike faith then, no poe try, no romance to make toler able this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight.The'eternal light J with which childhood fills the ' world would^e.extinguished. "Not believe, Sant^Claus! You might as well n6t^belieVe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all thdchim I neys 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 y s in the world are those nei- v ther children nor men can see. v- " Mtiggg' ' £\Did you ever see fairies' dancing on the lawn? Of course & not, but that's no proof that they are not there—nobody can con ceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen arujAmseeable ( in the world. TyT V - "You tear apart the baby's rat tle and see what makes the noise r- inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, or even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside the cur tain and view and picture the su pernal beauty and glory beyond. /Is it all real?—ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abidin^V^_ "No Santa ClausPTli^nk God! —he lives, and he lives forever— ^ a thousand years from now, Vir ginia, nay' ten thousand years from now, he will continue to ' ffisfe heart of childhood."
Henderson Daily Dispatch (Henderson, N.C.)
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Dec. 24, 1940, edition 2
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