The INDEPENDENT, December 21, 2006
Page 3
Letters
Yes, Virginia, there
is a Santa Claus
a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
New York
(This timeless classic is from
the Editorial Page of The New
York Sun, written by Francis P.
Church, September 21, 1897)
Virginia, your little friends
are wrong. They have been af-
fected by the skepticism of a
skeptical age. They do not be-
lieve 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 chil-
dren’s are little. In this great
universe of ours man is a mere
To the 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
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 San-
ta Claus. He exists as certainly
as love and generosity and de-
votion 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
Between the Bookends
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
This has certainly been
a most unusual prelude to
the holidays, with the
windstorm and the power
outages. I’m writing this at
home on my laptop com-
puter, using a generator
for the power source, and
hoping it will meet the
publication deadline. The
library has been closed a couple of extra days,
which I hope hasn’t inconvenienced too many
people. I did come in for a while on each of those
days but it was too cold to stay all day and I’m
hoping that not too many patrons came search-
ing for books, missed me, and have been des-
perate without reading materials.
Even without electricity the holiday season
has arrived and I can’t think of any better exam-
ples of what the season represents than what
the Vernonia residents have been doing for the
past few days. People throughout the communi-
ty have been checking on their neighbors and
giving help in the form of generators, food, hous-
ing, etc. WOEC employees have been working
many extra hours to get the electricity function-
ing as soon as possible. The Senior Center has
offered warmth to those with no source of heat in
their homes. The fire department, aided by nu-
merous volunteers, has functioned as a source
of information to resources available for citizens
in need. I’m sure there are more instances of this
caring and sharing—neighbor helping neigh-
bor—that were taking place, and isn’t that what
this season is all about? We should consider
ourselves so lucky to live in a community such
as this.
Every year people ask if the library has needs
and if they can help with these needs. In re-
sponse to that, the library is once again making
books available for adoption. These books, ob-
tained from the St. Helens Book Shop, are on a
table just inside the door and may be purchased
at 20% off their regular price, at which time they
become part of the library’s collection. Since the
after school programs continually need supplies
and snacks, the tree in the entryway contains
special cutout ornaments with some of these
items listed. Any of these items may also be pur-
chased and donated to help with the after school
programs.
Since there will be no after school programs
during the holiday break from school, movie
matinees will be shown on Monday, December
18 at 3:00 p.m. and on Friday, December 22 at
2:00 p.m. (These are the regular times when the
after school programs would take place.) There
will also be a family movie night on Tuesday, De-
cember 26 at 6:30, with the movie Cars being
featured. Bedtime story time will start again in
January on the second Tuesday at 6:00. These
programs are all free and all are encouraged to
attend.
It isn’t too late to check out the many books,
movies, and magazines featuring Christmas sto-
ries for children and adults. The newest of these
include A Christmas Guest by Anne Perry,
Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber, The
Christmas Hat (Juvenile) by A. J. Wood, One
Magic Christmas (DVD), and Santa Cruise by
Mary Higgins and Carol Higgins Clark.
The following poem is from this month’s issue
of Reminisce magazine:
Santa’s Cake
I saved my cake for Santa Claus
One Christmas Eve at tea.
‘Cause if riding makes one hungry,
How hungry he must be!
I put it on the chimney shelf
Where he’d be sure to go.
It surely makes a person proud
To be remembered so.
When everyone was fast asleep,
Everyone but me,
I tiptoed down the stairs,
Oh, just as still, to see
If he had been here yet—
Dear me! It made my feelings ache!
There sat a miserable little mouse
Eating Santa’s cake!
—Author unknown
Here’s hoping each and every one of you has
a rewarding holiday season with family and
friends.
Vernonia Public Library: 701 Weed Ave.
Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tues., Thur. 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Preschool Story Time: Mondays, 10:30
a.m., when school is in session.
Phone: 503-429-1818
if there were no Virginias.
There would be no child-like
faith then, no poetry, no ro-
mance 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 imag-
ine all the wonders there are
unseen and unseeable in the
world.
You tear apart the baby’s rat-
tle 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, fancy, poetry, love, ro-
mance, can push aside that
curtain and view and picture
the supernal beauty and glory
beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Vir-
ginia, in all the world there is
nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God!
he lives, and he lives forever. A
thousand years from now, Vir-
ginia, nay, ten times ten thou-
sand years from now, he will
continue to make glad the heart
of childhood.
Scouts say “thanks”
for local generosity
To the Editor:
On behalf of the Boy, Cub
and Girl Scouts of Vernonia, I
would like to thank the gen-
erosity of our community.
We are truly blessed living is
this small town that once again
has shown it cares about the
people in our community. Last
year for Vernonia Cares we col-
lected 1,082 pounds of food.
This year we collected 1,863
pounds of food. It truly is amaz-
ing! Also it will benefit many
families in this season of giving.
Thanks to all who helped
with the food drive and to all
who made this possible.
Mark your calendars for next
year; on the second Saturday
of December we will be doing
this again.
Lisa Brewer
Cub Scouts Pack 201
Vernonia
Scout food drive is
truly appreciated
To the Editor:
During a very successful
city-wide canned food drive,
the Scouts (all ages and packs,
including the girls) gathered
nearly 2,000 pounds of food for
Vernonia Cares. This is even
more than last year’s event! Ya-
hoo!!
Sandy Welch,
Exec. Director
Vernonia Cares
Food Bank
Turkey Drive brought
outstanding results
To the Editor:
Dear Citizens of Vernonia: This
year’s Turkey Drive for the Ver-
nonia Cares Christmas boxes
has been a resounding suc-
cess. THANK YOU!
You have come forward with
Turkeys, Hams and cash dona-
tions to make it all come togeth-
er. Many of you came forward
with a $20.00 donation to spon-
sor an entire Christmas box for
a family. In addition, over 4,000
Saver Shields have been do-
nated at Vernonia Sentry Mar-
ket! The dollar savings in meat
products allows Vernonia
Cares to stretch their funds into
the New Year for clients. This
time of year is difficult for all
families, as the flexible budget
item for everyone is the food
category.
Vernonia Sentry and all per-
sonnel have been instrumental
to the success this year by ac-
cepting and storing check
stand donations, as well as fa-
cilitating the Saver Shield re-
demption and turkey order at a
great savings. Well over 150
turkeys are currently stored in
the new Sentry freezer. The
ability to store that volume of
meat has always been one of
the biggest challenges of this
effort. THANK YOU SENTRY!
Please see page 24