Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus (Editorial Page, 1897, New York Sun) Choose Your Favorite Christmas Carol Select From Below 12 Days of Christmas Angels Auld Lang Syne Away in a Manager Blue Christmas Carol Of The Bells Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire Deck The Halls Do You Hear What I hear Feliz Navidad First Noel Frosty the Snowman God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Good Christian Men Rejoice Good King Wenceslas Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer Hark the Herald Angels Sing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Holly Jolly Christmas I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus It Came Upon A Midnight Clear It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas Here Comes Santa Claus Jingle Bell Rock Jingle Bells Jolly Old Saint Nicholas Joy to the World Let it Snow Little Drummer Boy O Christmas Tree O Come All Ye Faithful O Holy Night O Little Town Of Bethelhem Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Santa Claus is Coming to Town Silent Night Silver Bells Sleigh Ride Up on the Housetop We Wish You a Merry Christmas What Child is This White Christmas Winter Wonderland We take pleasure in answering 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. Papa says,"If you see it in The Sun, its'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 skeptical age. They do not believe except that 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 of 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 tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment. Except in sense and sight. The external 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 all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you 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 not proof that they are not there. Nobody  can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart a 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, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it 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, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. Believe. St.Nick's Sliding Puzzle Game | St.Nick's Wordsearch Game The History of St.Nick | Send A Letter To St. Nick | Do You Believe? 'Twas The Night Before Christmas | St. Nick's Favorite Books Return To Home     Email: santa@stnick.com St.Nick's Thought For You: Java must be enabled to get St. Nick's thought. Copyright © 1998-2007 Advanced Internet Systems  All rights reserved.