Sunday Morning - the Day Before Christmas

36 degrees; sort of drippy.

CHURCH SERVICES

Grace Episcopal Church
December 24th at 10:00 A.M.
Eucharist for the Fourth Sunday in Advent
in the Chapel (no music.)
Christmas Eve Eucharist at 7:00 P.M.
with music for singers, trumpet, flute and clarinet.

St. Bernard's Catholic Church

December 24th, 8:30 and 10:30 A.M..
Christmas Eve: 4:30 Children's Service;
7:00 P.M. at St. Mary's in North Brookfield;
10:00 P.M. at St. Bernard's.
Christmas Day: 10:30 A.M. at St. Bernard's.

SouthGate Ministries

December 24 at 7:00 P.M. Candlelight Service.

United Methodist Church

December 24th, regular 9:00 A.M.
Service in East Hamilton;
10:45 A.M. in Waterville.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Services
at 6:30 in East Hamilton and 8 o'clock in Waterville.

Three Steeples

The First Presbyterian Church, Waterville
Union Presbyterian Church, Sauquoit
United Church of Christ, Paris

Sunday at 10:00 A.M.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Paris Hill.
8:00 P.M.

We have a grand old friend named Warren Gilman who lives in North Gorham, Maine and who reminds me eversomuch of the late "Pete" Peterson. He sent this:

Here are two items written by Virginia O’Hanlon. Do you recognize the name?

"Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus" Probably all of us have read that famous editorial that appeared in the New York Sun, and here is the letter that prompted it.

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

Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" was an immediate sensation, and became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, over one hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper
went out of business.



Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O'Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:
"Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn't any Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.

"It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, 'If you see it in the The Sun, it's so,' and that settled the matter.

" 'Well, I'm just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,' I said to father.

"He said, 'Go ahead, Virginia. I'm sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does.' "

And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents' favorite newspaper.

Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, "Endeavor to clear your mind of cant." When controversial subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

Now, he had in his hands a little girl's letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

"Is there a Santa Claus?" the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history.

Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O'Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master's from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.

From the "People’s Almanac" pp. 1358-9

Presented Dec. 18, 2006 at the North Gorham Poetry meetlng – Warren B Gilman

And here, from the NEWSEUM, is Virginia's original letter and the answer to her question.

"Yes, Virginia," wrote veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church, "Your little friends are wrong. There is a Santa Claus!"