You probably already know that Santa Claus has one of the best beards and mustaches in history, but what you may not know is that some people do not believe in Santa Claus.

Virginia O’Hanlon (1889–1971)

In 1897 there lived a little girl who was eight years old. Her name was Virginia O’Hanlon. She asked her father if Santa Claus was real. Her father said that she should write to the editor of the newspaper.

The New York Sun was one of the most prominent newspapers; not just in New York but in the whole country. Dr. O’Hanlon said, “If you read it in the Sun you know it is true.”

So Virginia wrote to the paper. The editor, Francis Church, replied to her letter in the newspaper. It has since become one of the most famous editorials ever.

Original letter by Virginia O’Hanlon to the Editor of the New York Sun

Dear Editor,

Francis Pharcellus Church, author of the famous editorial

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say that there is no Santa Claus. Papa says “If you see it in the Sun, it is so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

115 W. 95th St.

Original editorial from The New York Sun

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 our 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 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 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. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else as real and abiding.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, maybe 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the hearts of children.

–Written by Francis P. Church in 1897

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