Yes, Virginia, There is
a Santa Claus
The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.
(Originally published in The New York Sun
in 1897.)
And now the question and the
story behind the question.
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 story behind the question:
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
The New York Sun in 1897, almost 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. |