Where’s The Snow?

Did I not just put out a short newsletter asking where the snow is? Oooops.

And it’s cold too. It’s currently 28 degrees and it normally drops another degree or two before 7am.

Well, I think in my next newsletter I’ll ask where the palm trees are. Maybe a couple of them will shoot up in town somewhere.

Over FOUR MILLION Hits in 2011

Thanks to everybody who made this possible. We achieved over 4,000,000 hits this year.

Looking back to 2007 we had 200,000 hits for the year and it grew a bit in the following years but this year exploded!

Thanks again and if you’d like to see the stats, click HERE.

Happy New Year.

Ed & Dottie

Federal Holiday’s 2012

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

This is our YEARLY publication of Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.  It’s a fun read and a good reminder.  Ed

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

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:

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 affected by the skepticism of a skeptical 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 you 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 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, 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 lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

About the Exchange

Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a 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, “Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.” When controversal 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.

More Information

• An alternative copy from the Newseum, which includes a nice scan of the original editorial.
• More historical background and analysis from The New York Times on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the editorial’s publication.

Seeking an Answer to a Question

In your opinion, what constitutes a Garage Sale?

My problem is, there is somebody on the block whom has a Garage Sale 7 days a week for the past couple of months.

At some point in time, should it not be construed as a business and therefore be required to get a business license from the Town and pay taxes to the town on the sales?

Maybe I’m being nit-picky but it just does not seem right. In my frame of thought, it’s a business if it’s doors are open 7 days a week all year long.

East Coast Earthquake Update

BREAKING NEWS: President Obama has just confirmed that the DC earthquake occurred on a rare and obscure fault-line, apparently known as “Bush’s Fault”. Obama also announced that the Secret Service and Maxine Waters continues an investigation of the quake’s suspicious ties to the Tea Party.

Conservatives however have proven that it was caused by the founding fathers all rolling over in their graves…!

Email From a Reader

The following email came from Mary B. to our inbox (unedited). Thank you Mary.
——–

FYI -I contacted the Washington Department of transportation about the lengthy slow downs on highway 2 due to the traffic lights in Sultan. Mike Swires at 206 440-4415 was very helpful in explaining the issues that impact the length of the green lights there. Said not many people had contacted him with positive suggestions such as a reader board with anticipated wait time. Anyway, I figured I wasn’t the only one of your readers that has experienced recent hour plus delays trying to get from Index to Monroe.

Mary B.

Photo: Humming Bird Feeding

This year the humming birds are crazy. They are every where. We think we have one bush that is a breeding ground this year.

There are 8 young ones flying around showing no fear at all. One landed on my back the other day for a couple of seconds, then dashed off.

Humming birds only lay 2 eggs per season and we have 8 babies here.

Check out this photo of a baby being fed from the feeder while my wife holds it.

Click photo to enlarge:

Snowing Again

Well, we got about 12-14″ of snow a day or so ago. Freezing is an understatement right now…

Alas, it’s snowing again at this moment and has been for about 2 hours. Let us know what is happening in your part of the world or State.

Thank You Bill

Big thanks to Bill Cross, Maintenance Super for the Town of Index.

Bill was out clearing the roads again (well, it is his job) but the wind was BONE CHILLING and it was 30 degrees and he was in an open back hoe doing his job.

Big thanks Bill from all of us in the town.