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About Butte Falls bulletin. (<1994 Dec.->) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2016)
AS I SEE IT ! rqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA C h r is tm a s ... D ear E ditor, I am eight years old. S om e o f m y little friends say there is no S anta C laus. P apa says "If you see it in th e S un it's so." P lease te ll m e th e tru th , is th e re a S anta C laus? V irginia O 'H anlon. 115 W .95th St. V IR G IN IA , yo u r little friends are w rong. T hey have been affected by th e skepticism o f a skeptical age. T hey do n o t believe ex cept [w h a t] they see. T hey th in k th a t nothing can be w hich is n o t com prehensible by th e ir little m inds. A ll m inds, V irginia, w h e th e r they be m en's or children's, are little . In this great universe o f ours m an is a m ere insect, an ant, in his in telle ct, as com pared w ith th e boundless w o rld about him , as m easured by th e intelligence capable o f grasping th e w hole o f truth and know ledge. Yes, V IR G IN IA, th e re is a S anta C laus. H e exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know th a t they aboun d and give to yo u r life its highest beauty and joy. A las! how dreary w ould be th e w o rld if th e re w ere no S anta C laus. It w ould be as dreary as if th e re w ere no V IR G IN IAS . T here w ould be no childlike fa ith then, no poetry, no rom ance to m ake to le r able this existence. W e should have no enjoym ent, except in sense and sight. The eternal light w ith w hich childhood fills the w o rld w ould be extinguished. N ot believe in S anta C laus! Y ou m ight as w ell n o t believe in fairies! Y ou m ight get yo u r papa to hire m en to w atch in all the chim neys on C hristm as Eve to catch S anta C laus, b u t even if they did n o t see S anta C laus com ing dow n, w h a t w ould th a t prove? N obody sees S anta C laus, b u t th a t is no sign th a t th e re is no S anta C laus. The m ost real things in th e w o rld are those th a t nei th e r children nor m en can see. D id you ever see fairies dancing on th e law n? O f course not, b u t th a t's no p ro o f th a t they are n o t there. N obody can conceive or im agine all the w onders there are unseen and unseeable in th e w orld. Y ou m ay te a r apart th e baby's ra ttle and see w h a t m akes th e noise inside, b u t there is a veil covering th e unseen w o rld w hich n o t th e strongest m an, nor even th e united strength o f all th e strongest m en th a t ever lived, could te a r apart. O nly fa ith , fancy, poetry, love, rom ance, can push aside th a t curtain and view and picture th e supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? A h, V IR G IN IA , in all this w o rld th e re is nothing else real and abiding. N o S anta C laus! T hank G O D ! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now , V irginia, nay, ten tim es ten thousand years fro m now , he w ill continue to m ake glad th e heart o f childhood.
