Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon had something on her mind...

The year was 1897 One hundred & twenty-five years ago

Her friends were telling her that there was no such thing as a Santa Claus

No jolly old elf in a red suit

No eight tiny reindeer

Young Virginia decided to do her own investigation

So, she wrote a letter to the New York Sun

"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, 115 West Ninety Fifth Street"

The Editor at the New York Sun at this time was Edward P. Mitchell

He would later say that Francis P. Church, “bristled and pooh-poohed at the subject when I suggested he write a reply to Virginia O’Hanlon

But he took the letter and turned with an air of resignation to his desk"

The author of the editorial was a former Civil War reporter named Francis P. Church.

It has been said that after all of the violence he witnessed covering the Civil War,

he was left cynical and reticent.

Although he had no children of his own

His editorial is said to have captured the innocent essence of childhood

And blending it with complete non-condescending honesty

He wrote the truth

Yet he NEVER spoiled the "Magic of Christmas" for Virginia

Or for that matter, the millions of boys and girls who would follow

In the generations to come.

The New York Sun published its response to Virginia in the form of an editorial on September 21st,1897

This is perhaps now regarded as the most famous editorial in the history of American journalism

And The headline may have made all the difference:

“Is there a Santa Claus?”

Below is The Editorial Response in its entirety 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 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 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 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 external 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 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 the strongest man,

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.

ALERT

KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN SEEN WITH

THESE PERSONS OF INTEREST

IF YOU KNOW OF OTHERS

"TO BE CONTINUED"