floundersgreatadventure

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus
–
Frances Pharcellus
Church
–
New York Sun
–
9/21/
1897
“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.
”
115 WEST NINETY
–
FIFTH STREET.”
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the
skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that
nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia,
whe
ther 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 knowledg
e.
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 drea
ry 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 eternal light with which childhood fills the w
orld 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 dow
n, 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 n
ot 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 beyo
nd. Is it all real?
Ah, Virginia
, in all this world there is nothing else
real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! H
e lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years
from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to
make glad the heart
of childhood.
This is Flounder and Fats saying Happy Christmas from Medellin, Colombia.