1940-12-21 — Page 9

Second Section

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Hongkong Telegraph

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1940.

There Is a Santa

Magazine Features

Sa Chris

THIS is the most famous article on Santa Claus ever written. It first appeared in the "New York Sun" in 1897, and has been reprinted in that paper every Xmas since. It is the reply.

of the Editor to a little reader of eight.

E take pleasure in answering at once the

WE

my

communication below.

"Dear Editor,-l am eight years old. Some of

little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

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 scepticism of a sceptical 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

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boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence of grasping the whole 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 the world would be 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 exist- ence. We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight.

Eternal light with which childhood. fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You

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might as well not believe in fairies!

You might get your papa to hire men to watch all 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.

Most of the 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 is no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that there are unseen or 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, fancy, poetry, love, and 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 for ever. A thousand years from now, Virginia- nay, ten times ten thousand years from now-he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

F EVER THERE WAS A NEED FOR FAITH, now is the time. Much of the world is torn by war. Men in whose

· hearts there is evil have gained power. Those who toil, in fields and factories; women in the home; little children visited in their innocence with disaster-none have escaped suffering in those lands where greed holds sway.. Perhaps the time has come for the testing of spiritual values. Perhaps only those who truly believe, and are willing to fight for their faith in the good, the generous, the kindly way of life will ultimately survive. Let Christmas, then, be the symbol of renewed faith. Christmas, that most Holy Day, when a little Child was born, touched with God's own hand in blessing, that He might grow

Christmas

to Manhood a Man among men, a Leader in the way of life that is righteous, and gives to every man his just share of this world's goods.

R

EMEMBERING HIS WORD, we can feel certain that the Devil will perish, drowned in that very misery they have brought down upon their fellow men. The evil shall be swept from the earth, and the good shall arise from their suffering, to see the down of a happier day. He was once a tiny child,

like the millions of little children still secure and spared the horror and pain which millions of others have felt. In His name, let us make this Christmas our time to pledge ourselves to the continued safety of our boys and girls-for they are the men and women of the future; who will carry on the spirit of democracy, which gives to all people the right to live the good life, the free life-without the tormenting kind' of “right” and "wrong" conceived by dictators who allow no faith among their people--but demand blind following.

HE

TE WAS A JUST LEADER, men and women in all walks of life followed Him because He preached man's inherent right to a happy life. On Christmas Day-the_anniversary of His birth--let us reavow our faith in His word.