Yes, There is a Santa Claus!

by Erik Raichle

Waseca County News

1979

For as long as I can remember, I've always believed in Santa Claus. Unfortunately, the last time I asserted my belief so unabashedly, the Third Grade teacher had a "donnybrook" on her hands.

 

How  was I to know, seated in the front row, that I was the only kid in class with my hand raised after she asked the derisive question, "Does anyone in here still believe in Santa Claus?"

 

As I accompanied her to the principal's office, I felt,  not a little, betrayed.  If you can't trust your teacher, who can you trust.  But, I did learn a lesson from the experience: Keep your beliefs to yourself.

 

Nevertheless, on crisp December days, as soft snowflakes fall, I get this overwhelming feeling that something great is about to happen.  And, I gotta spread the word, as they say.

 

This year, however, 'tis different.  Unlike other years of my life, I no longer believe in Santa Claus.  I no longer believe in him because I know who he is.  And, the knowledge is more awesome than the belief.

 

After years of hiding my bantered belief, I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, who Santa is, where he lives, and why every living thing on this good earth loves him.  Today, begins a new era in my life.  Scientists and great thinkers of the world, Listen up!

 

I made my discovery while conducting experiments with photosynthesis.

 

As I pondered the amazing fact that the flowering green plant can convert the sun's energy into sugar - the requisite nutrient for all life on this earth - my mind took a quantum intuitive leap, and I knew  who Santa was.

 

In my extreme state of exultation, I walked over to the piano and began  singing, "Up On The House Top."  And, right on cue, the teacher in the classroom directly above  mine began stomping vigorously on the floor.

 

Although the scholarly gentleman had accompanied us many times in the past, on this occasion, he seemed inspired.  Perhaps, the May  sunshine, streaming through his open window, lighted some poignant memory from a Christmas past.

 

Now, for the first time, I understood how all those subtle Christmas symbols fit together, like pieces of a giant, joyous, delectable, fruit cake.  I understood why Virginia in her famous letter to the New York Sun wrote, "If you see it in 'The Sun' it's true."  I understood the red poinsettias, the cardinals and holly berries. I understood the green Christmas tree, the Christmas wreath, the mistletoe and all those wonderful songs exhorting us to be jolly.  I understood why the first calendars had only 10 months, and how baby New Year, old Father Time and Santa Claus fit into the 10th month, December.  And, why the Christmas wreath symbolized the endless circle of time that begins on the 21st day of December.  I understood why the first Christmas gifts were good things to eat and the companionship of loved ones.

 

Ironically, now, that I understand the secret behind Christmas, I can't reveal Santa's identity.  After all, if our ancestors, in their joyous design for the holiday, decided to enshroud him in symbol and myth, then I respect their judgment.  Certainly, millions of children around the world approve their wisdom.  But, I can give you some clues:  He's big; he's round; he's red, and he makes you feel good all over.  Without Santa Claus, there'd be no life on this earth.

 

When I first made my discovery, I felt like shouting it from the housetop.  But, quiet reflection reveals that Santa Claus will live as long as the earth revolves around the sun. Mortals merely play out the part which fate has predestined.  My part was to reaffirm his existence.

Merry Christmas

To all

and

To all

A goodnight.

 

 

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

by Frank Church

Editor of the New York Sun

1897


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, 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.

 

The History Of The Letter To Virginia

 

Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in 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 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 New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer.

 

Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, “Endeavor to clear your mind of can’t.” When controversial 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.

 

Taken from

The People’s Almanac

pp. 1358–9.
 

 

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