Most of us have read the famous editorial "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus". The editorial has become as much a symbol of Christmas as holly and mistletoe. What most of us don’t know is that the original letter was written by Virginia O, Hanlon, the daughter of an Irish immigrant, Dr. Phillip O'Hanlon. Dr. O'Hanlon was a noted physician in the NYC police department and the family lived very comfortably in New York's upper west side.
One day in September 1887, Dr. O'Hanlon arrived home to find his 8 year old daughter in tears, some one at school had told her Santa Clause didn’t exist. After calming the distraught child, Dr. O'Hanlon couldn’t bear to tell the child the truth, so he suggested she write a letter to the New York Sun newspaper as the family had written to their question and answer section in the past. "Write a letter," he told her, to the New York Sun. If you see it in the Sun, it's so."
With innocence only they very young possess, Virginia did just that. Her letter was published, and answered by Francis Pharcellus Church. The piece became an instant sensation, and touched the hearts and souls of many around the world. For over 100 years now, that letter and its response have been re-published yearly by newspapers around the world. The story of Virginia's inquiry and the Sun's response was adapted into an Emmy Award-winning animation in 1974. The story was also adapted to a TV movie in 1991.
Virginia’s story doesn’t end with the editorial however. Virginia grew up and went to college. She graduated from Hunter with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1910 and she received her Master's degree from Columbia a year later. She also earned a doctorate from Fordham, and had a distinguished career as a teacher.
She also wrote another letter about Santa:
Is there a Santa Claus?'
Dear children of yesterday and today, when that question was asked,
I, a little girl, was interested in finding out the answer just for myself.
Now, grown up and a teacher, I want so much that all little children believe
there really is a Santa Claus. For I understand how essential a belief
in Santa Claus, and in fairies, too, is to a happy childhood.
Some little children doubt that Santa still lives because often their
letters, for one reason or another, never seem to reach him. Nurses in
hospitals know who some of these children are. Teachers in great city schools
know others.
Dear children of yesterday, won't you try to seek out these trusting
children of today and make sure that their letters in some way may reach
Santa Claus so that 'he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood'?
That, I believe, is the best way of proving there is a Santa Claus, for
ourselves and for the children.
Virginia O'Hanlon received many letters about Santa in her life and did her best to answer them all. She passed away in 1971, but her letter and Mr. Church’s response live on.
And now, in the tradition of magazines and news papers around the word, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Clause.”
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 O'Hanlon
Response by Francis Church:
Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism
of a skeptical age. They do not believe except that which 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 countless 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 have 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 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 the strongest men,
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 supernatural 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
