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, 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 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 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.


    亲爱的编辑，我是一个8岁的孩子。我的一些朋友告诉我这个世界上没有圣诞老人。爸爸跟我说“你可以问问太阳报是不是这样”请问您能告诉实话吗，到底有没有圣诞老人？

    Virginia, 你的朋友们说的不对。在这个怀疑一切的时代，他们都染上了怀疑的习性。他们不相信任何东西，除非是他们亲眼看到的。他们觉得自己的小脑袋瓜什么都能够理解。Virginia，所有的头脑，无论是大人的还是小孩的，都是很小的。在我们这个浩瀚的宇宙里，人类的智力就好比一只蚂蚁，而那种能够理解所有的知识和真理所需要的智力，则好比这只环绕在这只蚂蚁周围的无边无际的世界。

    是的，Virginia，确实有一个圣诞老人。他是存在的，就像爱，慷慨和奉献是存在的一样，你知道它们比比皆是，才使你的生活变得美好和快乐。哎，如果没有圣诞老人的话，这个世界会多么枯燥乏味啊！就像没有virginia一样的乏味呢。那样的话，就没有孩子般的信仰，没有诗意，也没有能浪漫让我们能容忍这样的存在。那样我们就没有任何享受可言，既看不到也感受不到。那样的话，从最开始就充满这个世界的永恒之光也会被熄灭。

    不相信圣诞老人！你还不如也不相信精灵。你 可以让你的爸爸雇佣一些人，让他们在平安夜的时候守着每个烟囱看能不能抓住圣诞老人，但是就算你没有看到圣诞老人从烟囱里下来，那又能证明什么呢？没有人 看到圣诞老人，这不表示就没有圣诞老人。在这个世界上，那些最真实的东西是谁也看不见的，不管他是小孩，还是大人。你看到过精灵在草地上舞蹈吗？肯定没有 吧，但那不能证明他们就不存在。谁也想象不出这世上所有那些看不到也不可见的奇迹是什么样子的。

    我们能打开婴儿的拨浪鼓，看看里面是什么让它发出声音。可是有一个面纱遮住了我们看不见的世界，这个面纱就算是最强壮的人，甚至是集合了过往的所有最强壮的人的力量，也无法把它揭开。只有信念，诗 意，爱，浪漫，才能够为我们推开窗帘，向我们描绘和展示出无与伦比的美丽和荣耀。这一切都是真的吗？啊，Virginia，这世上再没有什么比这更真实更持久的了。

    没有圣诞老人！感谢上帝！他不仅活着并且会永远活着。从现在起的一千年以后，virginia，不然从现在起的十个一万年以后，他仍会继续为孩子们的心带来欢乐。

    From Internet