[project1dev] Re: yes virginia, there is a santa claus

  • From: Chris Riccobono <crysalim@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: project1dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:25:14 -0800

But the real question is, if you observe Santa Claus, does he still exist?

On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 11:14 AM, eric drewes <figarus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> "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, 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 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, 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 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 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.

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