Transcriber’s Note Italic text displayed as: _italic_ [Illustration: Decoration] THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF CHRISTMAS [Illustration: woman in bed] [Illustration: THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF CHRISTMAS Compiled by J. C. DIER The MACMILLAN COMPANY 1911 All rights reserved ] [Illustration: Decoration] COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published, October, 1911. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. _IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS?_ [_This question addressed to_ The Sun, _New York, received this reply_.] _We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of_ The 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._ _Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been afflicted by the scepticism of a sceptical 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 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 they 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._