Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 21:17:32 -0500 (EST) 
From: Jim Vaglia - TRFN Volunteer  
To: VICUG-L  
Cc: trfnvteer-l  
Subject: WEB: Christmas classic 
 
Seasons greetings, 
The following Christmas classic may be read on the web at the following 
address: 
http://www.barricksinsurance.com/virginia.html 
Happy Holidays, 
Jim 
Start of text. 
    Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus 
    Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897 
   We take pleasure in answering 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: 
   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 affected 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 
   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, 
--- Maximus/2 2.02
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