In 1897, newspaper magic happened. An eight-year-old girl, Virginia O’Hanlon, wrote a simple three-sentence letter to the New York Sun asking if Santa exists. Her father suggested she write: “Papa says ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’” The power of the fourth estate. What transpired has become legend. The editor who wrote the response, Francis Pharcellus Church, who had been a war correspondent during the Civil War, used the opportunity not just to say whether or not Santa exists, but to highlight the importance of faith and believing in something larger than yourself.
It is difficult to imagine what Francis Church experienced as a war correspondent and how this affected him afterwards. The Civil War ravaged our country. More than 600,000 Americans died. At times brother fought brother as our country tore itself apart. During the four-year conflict, there can be little doubt that Church witnessed suffering at its most extreme. At war’s end the South’s infrastructure was destroyed and the long, hard process of Reconstruction began. Many felt that society had broken down irrevocably, and suffered a loss of faith as a result. When Virginia’s letter came in, Church must have jumped at the chance to craft his brilliant reply. If there were no Santa, he wrote, “The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.”
Newspapers are interesting things. They can make a genuine impact. Church’s editorial appeared on page seven of The Sun, below a piece on the “chainless” bicycle. You would not think it would have drawn much notice there, but it did. It was read and the magic began. Today it is the most reproduced editorial, in part or whole, in the English language. Its words and phrases are both quick-paced and soothing. We like to imagine Church wrote it quickly, in a fit a passion. “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.”
Perhaps no editorial will ever be as impactful Church’s letter to Virginia. But Church demonstrates how a few well-chosen words can inspire and uplift a community—as we hope to do here, when the occasion warrants. In that spirit, let us now declare our belief that Santa abounds in Greenwich in large ways and small. We saw it first hand when we stopped by the Toys for Tots drive at the Cos Cob Firehouse last weekend and witnessed the mountain of toys donated for those less fortunate. Jack Kriskey, Ronnie Staplefield and Kerrin Coyle have been helping organize this effort for years. The Banksville Community Center hosted a similar drive, and Barbara Lovely and Danny Natale welcomed all who stopped by. We have great faith in our community, and we’re fortunate to see that faith in action at every turn.
At the heart of Church’s editorial is this question: How can you believe in something—have faith in something—that you cannot see, especially when others tell you it doesn’t exist? To the doubters and naysayers Church responds, “Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.”
As you gather this week with family and friends, as the race to the holidays concludes with the holiday itself, we hope that everyone will take a moment to avoid the “skepticism of a skeptical age” and look for what we, as a community, can hold up with pride as meaningful accomplishments. It could be the September 11th Memorial in Cos Cob Park, the Old Barn restoration at Tod’s Point, or the Round Hill Fire Department fund drive, to name a few of the many. All these required faith and belief, and all became real.
Yes, neighbors, there is a Santa Claus.
