Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus - Francis Church

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dear editor, I am eight 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'hanlan one, fifteen West ninety fifth.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Street, 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.

(00:44):
In this great universe of ours. Man is a mere insect,
an aunt 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, certainly as love and

(01:06):
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 Virginia's. There would be no child like faith,
then no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

(01:31):
We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight,
the eternal light 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
a man to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas
Eve to catch Santa Claus. But even if they did

(01:54):
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

(02:15):
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

(02:36):
the strongest man, nor 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 in view and
picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real?

(03:00):
A Virginia in all this world? There is nothing else
real in abiding No Santa Claus, Thank God, he lives,
and he lives for ever a thousand years from now,
nay ten times ten thousand years from now. He will
continue to make glad the heart of childhood