Francis P. Church's ledare, *Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus* är en av de mest berömda ledare som någonsin skrivits. Det var i The New York Sun, 1897, alltså för hundratio år sedan, som den publicerades första gången och publicerades sedan årligen ända fram till 1949 då tidningen lades ner.

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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 external 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.

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Trettiosex år senare mindes Virginia O'Hanlon händelsen som föranledde hennes brev:

'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.'

Så hon satte sig ner och skrev ett brev till hennes föräldrars favorittidning-

Hennes brev hamnade i händerna på Francis P. Church. Church hade bevakat amerikanska inbördeskriget för The New York Times och han hade arbetat på The New York Sun i 20 år. Church personlliga motto var 'Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.' När kontroversiella ämnen skulle behandlas på ledarsidan, speciellt religösa sådana, var det ofta Churchs uppgift att ta hand om dessa.

Nu satt han med Virginias brev i handen, och det var hans uppgift att besvara detta.

Finns Jultomten? frågade det barnsliga brevet. Church visste omedelbart att han inte kunde undvika frågan. Han måste besvara den, och han måste besvara den sanningsenligt. Han slog sig ned vid sitt skrivbord och började skriva sitt svar som med tiden skulle bli en av de mest berömda ledarna i tidningshistorien.

Church gifte sig senare, men förblev barnlös. Han avled i april 1906.

Virginia O'Hanlon tog examen från Hunter College med en Bachelor of Arts degree vid 21 års ålder. Året därpå tog hon en Master?s degree från Columbia. 1912 började hon undervisa i New York och hon blev senare rektor. Under hela sitt mottog hon en stadig ström brev angående hennes Santa Claus Letter. Hon besvarade dem och bifogade alltid en kopia av Churchs ledare. Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas avled den 13e maj 1971 vid 81 års ålder.