Is There a Santa Claus?

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s SUN, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

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.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] 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 there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may 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, 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.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The Twelve Days of Christmas (Genealogy Style)

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:

Twelve census searches
Eleven family bibles
Ten e-mail contacts
Nine headstone rubbings
Eight wills and admins
Seven miners mining
Six second cousins
Five coats of arms
Four GEDCOM files
Three old wills
Two CD-ROMs
And a branch in my family tree.

– Author Unknown

Another folk tale

A local weather meteorologist has been talking lately about the woolly bear caterpillar and the old folk tale about it being used to predict the severity of the coming winter. I have seen a couple of these caterpillars in my backyard and I am not sure what to make of it – one was solid black and the other was half-brown and black. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the woolly bear:

“Folklore of the eastern United States and Canada holds that the relative amounts of brown and black on the skin of a woolly bear caterpillar (commonly abundant in the fall) are an indication of the severity of the coming winter. It is believed that if a woolly bear caterpillar’s brown stripe is thick, the winter weather will be mild and if the brown stripes are narrow, the winter will be severe. In reality, hatchlings from the same clutch of eggs can display considerable variation in their color distribution, and the brown band tends to grow with age; if there is any truth to the aphorism, it is minimal.”
Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrharctia_isabella

Makes for interesting conversation, anyway.

Joe

Clearing up a misunderstanding

I just finished reading a book titled Delaware’s Forgotten Folk; the Story of the Moors and Nanticokes by C. A. Weslager, written in 1943. It helped clear up a misunderstanding about one of my ancestors, Sarah Nisa Hansor. Since she was listed in birth records as being mulatto, I assumed she might be of either African-American or Native American descent, or both. Turns out the term mulatto was applied to everyone who did not appear white.

So now she appears to be of Native American descent, probably either from the Nanticoke or Lenni Lanape tribes of the DelMarVa Peninsula.

It was interesting to read about the customs of the the locals in Delaware, some of whom are considered part of a group of people known as the Delaware Moors. They are not sure of their ancestry, and keep pretty much to themselves. Another interesting group of folks are members of the Nanticoke Indians, whose tribe was recognized by the State of Delaware. According to some local history, all the Native Americans had been run out of the DelMarVa Peninsula area, but it turns out that some remained and acclimated to life among the whites.

The book lists a few medicinal/herbal remedies that were part of the Nanticoke tribal history, some of which are still in use today. And several folk tales that were interesting to say the least. Some of them sounded pretty scary.

Fascinating history – thank goodness for interlibrary loans. And thank you Kenny Brown, who suggested I read the book.

Joe

Howdy, world!

“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”
- Andy Warhol, 1968

This is the start of my blog. Here goes……..