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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

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 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 in 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 no 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 the 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 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, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue
to make glad the heart of childhood.

Editorial by Francis P. Church
As published in the New York Sun,
December 1897

Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus"
was an immediate sensation, and became one of the most famous
editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in
1897, (over) a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949
when the paper went out of business.

Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O'Hanlon recalled
the events that prompted her letter:

"Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed
me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn't any
Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a
little evasive on the subject.

"It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how
to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we
wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always
say, 'If you see it in the The Sun, it's so,' and that settled the
matter."

"Well, I'm just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,"I said
to father.

"He said, Go ahead, Virginia. I'm sure The Sun will give you the right
answer, as it always does."

And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents' favorite newspaper.

Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis
P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for
The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years,
more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man,
had for his personal motto, "Endeavour to clear your mind of cant." When
controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially
those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

Now, he had in his hands a little girl's letter on a most controversial
matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

"Is there a Santa Claus?" the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At
once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer,
and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began
his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in
newspaper history.

Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April,
1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O'Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor
of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master's
from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school
system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an
educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about
her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive
printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas died on
May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.

Stay Safe Liz..............Happy Holidays !