The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 24, 1951, Page 6

PAGE SIX I i DN R N )y RESREE WENCORNEE PR YES, YIRGINIA “Yes, indeed! “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They hayve been affected by the skepticism of a skep-" tical age—they do not believe except what they see! | ~they think that nothing can be which is not com- prehensible 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 ingeet, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelli- gence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. “Yes, Virginia, there is! ) a Santa Claus. ““He exists as certainly as love and generosity’ nn(:l devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its high- est beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the ‘;loi'ld' 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 toler- abl¢Rhis existence. We should have no enjoyment, excpt in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extin- AMERRY, MFREY CHRISTMAS TO ALL = = - - THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE—JUNEAU, ALASKA e is a Santa It was only September, and 1897's Christmas was three months in the future. But Virginia O'Hanlon’s concern was with an important problem that, to her, knew no season. That was why she wrote her letter to the New York Sun. The answer to Virginia's question, written in a moment of deep spiritual insight by Francis B. Church, stands even today as a testament expressing two thousand years of faith. It has been reprinted here because it always will deserve to be read again. reneeneane LSNP e BT e RRRRDRQEDEN reggelery { i 2 S, it “Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as . well not believe in fairies! “Yeu, 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 sce {Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? ‘Nohody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa 'Claus—the most real things in the world are th o s e neither jchfldren nor men | ;can see. “Did y o u ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there-nebedy :‘can conceive or imagine all the wonders that 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, or even the united strength of all the strongest men, that ever lived, could tear apart. Oaly faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside the curtain ‘and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory ‘beyond. “Is it all real?—ah, Virginia, in all this world Ithere is nothing else real and abiding. ' “No Santa Claus; Thank God!-he lives, and he lives forever—a thousand years from now, Vir- ginia, nay, ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.” VWith Best Wishes for a Prosperous New Year VRRANARA «====The Staff of the Daily Alaska Empire W N ADVAARAVAARDAAAARAAAAVAAA MRAAAAIDTARAAAVARARAARARNAARAR MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1951 Everyone Wanfs Te See Just One "Good 0ld’ Yule “How I would long to see just one e ‘old-fashioned Christ- mas, These are familiar words at this time he year. Before the Yule- tide on is over some member of the family, grandfather or grandmother, probably, is certain to pass that remark, as they have done each Christmas of the past. And yet, if we search back into the records. . . to the turn of the ind that, even old-fashioned Christmas.” It is then that we realize that the celebra- ne passage Christmas fis the eTyear. is only the worlgand the people who are not the same. He may not admit it, but when r n to raise a his elders zing Christ- alding the ap- te commercial- 5 cf the Yuletide celebration. Even then they were worriéd. deny that Christmas y “commercialized” J of ecarly America. Yet, so has the entire nation. In of our ancestors there cf the vast trading nd commercial marts that we know today. Our very way of life has been greatly changed with on. Our holidays, and is the pmincipal one, to keep abreast. hout reservation, Christ- ically unchanged in its iu'uc meaning as a celebration of ,the birth of the Christ-Child re- ¢ the world. t or how small ed beneath the n heart never that Christmas T~ easons l)est sbes Aong with the that you already received, we would like to add ours. May this be a very Merry Christmas for you and may the New Year be one of happiness and prosperity. -The- CITY of JUNEATU ALASKA | i‘z