The following is an excerpt of the original reply to Virginia O’Hanlon— see link to the original below
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 the world 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 existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. — Francis Francis Pharcellus Church. A veteran journalist and Civil War correspondent, he responded anonymously to 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon’s letter on September 21, 1897. New York Sun.
Search original here in response to 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon’s letter on September 21, 1897
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