Monday, December 22, 2008

As Christmas nears...

As Christmas nears, I felt compelled to share the famous newspaper column from a sweet 8 year old girl named Virginia. It is a great reminder that Santa does exist. I will be showing this to my kids when they ask me if Santa is real.
Hard to imagine that this famous strip was printed Sept. 21st, 1897 and that it still holds true to this day. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS?
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 THE SUN:

"Dear Editor: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Paps 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 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 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 exsits as certainly as love and generousity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how deary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as deary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no peotry, no romance to make tolerable this exsistence. 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, thought 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 whats 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, 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, pay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

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