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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:56:50 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:56:50 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31996-h.zip b/31996-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fe7249 --- /dev/null +++ b/31996-h.zip diff --git a/31996-h/31996-h.htm b/31996-h/31996-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..60d754f --- /dev/null +++ b/31996-h/31996-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1214 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Is There a Santa Claus?, by Jacob A. Riis. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + table.title {width: 450px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/i002.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.i004 {width: 300px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/i004.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.i005 {width: 400px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/i005.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + + + + table.illo2 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo2.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo3 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo3.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + + table.illo4 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo4.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo5 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo5.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo6 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo6.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo7 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo7.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo8 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo8.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo9 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo9.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo10 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo10.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo11 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo11.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo12 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo12.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo13 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo13.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.illo14 {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/illo14.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + + + .textfit {margin-left: 25%; text-align: justify; margin-right: 20%; font-size: 102%;} + .moveright {margin-left: 40%; text-align: justify;} + .moveleft {margin-right: 40%; text-align: justify; font-size: 102%;} + .moveleft2 {margin-right: 45%; text-align: justify;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + .cap:first-letter {float: left; clear: left; margin: -0.2em 0.1em 0; margin-top: 0%; + padding: 0; line-height: .75em; font-size: 300%; text-align: justify;} + .cap {text-align: justify;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Is There a Santa Claus?, by Jacob A. Riis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Is There a Santa Claus? + +Author: Jacob A. Riis + +Release Date: April 15, 2010 [EBook #31996] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 317px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="317" height="500" alt="cover" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class='center'> <table class="title" summary="title"> +<tr><td align='left'><br /><br /> +<h2>IS THERE A SANTA<br /> +CLAUS?</h2><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;"> +<img src="images/i003.png" width="245" height="500" alt="Title" title="" /> +</div> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + +<div class='center'> <table class="i004" summary="i004"> +<tr><td align='left'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<div class='moveright'> +<div class='copyright'> +COPYRIGHT, 1904<br /> +BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +SET UP AND ELECTROTYPED<br /> +PUBLISHED OCTOBER, 1904<br /> +REPRINTED DECEMBER, 1904<br /> +REPRINTED NOVEMBER, 1912<br /></div> +</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'> <table class="i005" summary="i005"> +<tr><td align='left'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<div class='moveleft'> +<h2>IS THERE A SANTA<br />CLAUS?</h2> + +<div class='cap'>"DEAR MR. RIIS:</div> + +<p>"A little chap +of six on the Western +frontier writes to us:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><br /> <p>"'Will you please tell me +if there is a Santa Claus? +Papa says not.'</p><br /> <br /></div> + +<p>"Won't you answer +him?"</p> +</div><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo2" summary="illo2"> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='textfit'> +<p>That was the message +that came to me +from an editor last December<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +just as I was +going on a journey. +Why he sent it to me +I don't know. Perhaps +it was because, when I +was a little chap, my +home was way up toward +that white north +where even the little +boys ride in sleds behind +reindeer, as they are +the only horses they +have. Perhaps it was +because when I was a +young lad I knew Hans +Christian Andersen, +who surely ought to +know, and spoke his +tongue. Perhaps it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +both. I will ask the +editor when I see him. +Meanwhile, here was +his letter, with Christmas +right at the door, +and, as I said, I was +going on a journey.</p> + +<p>I buttoned it up in +my great coat along with +a lot of other letters I +didn't have time to read, +and I thought as I went +to the depot what a pity +it was that my little +friend's papa should +have forgotten about +Santa Claus. We big +people do forget the +strangest way, and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +we haven't got a bit of +a good time any more.</p></div> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo3" summary="illo3"> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='textfit'> + +<div class='cap'>NO Santa Claus! +If you had asked +that car full of people +I would have liked to +hear the answers they +would have given you. +No Santa Claus! Why, +there was scarce a man +in the lot who didn't +carry a bundle that +looked as if it had just +tumbled out of his +sleigh. I felt of one +slyly, and it was a boy's +sled—a "flexible flyer," +I know, because he left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +one at our house the +Christmas before; and +I distinctly heard the +rattling of a pair of +skates in that box in +the next seat. They +were all good-natured, +every one, though the +train was behind time—that +is a sure sign of +Christmas. The brakeman +wore a piece of +mistletoe in his cap and +a broad grin on his face, +and he said "Merry +Christmas" in a way to +make a man feel good +all the rest of the day. +No Santa Claus, is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +there? You just ask +him!</div> +</div><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo4" summary="illo4"> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='textfit'> +<p>And then the train +rolled into the city under +the big gray dome +to which George Washington +gave his name, +and by-and-by I went +through a doorway +which all American +boys would rather see +than go to school a +whole week, though +they love their teacher +dearly. It is true that +last winter my own little +lad told the kind man +whose house it is that +he would rather ride<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +up and down in the +elevator at the hotel, +but that was because +he was so very little at +the time and didn't +know things rightly, +and, besides, it was his +first experience with an +elevator.</p> +<p>As I was saying, I +went through the door +into a beautiful white +hall with lofty pillars, between +which there were +regular banks of holly +with the red berries +shining through, just as +if it were out in the +woods! And from behind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +one of them there +came the merriest laugh +you could ever think of. +Do you think, now, it +was that letter in my +pocket that gave that +guilty little throb +against my heart when I +heard it, or what could +it have been? I hadn't +even time to ask myself +the question, for there +stood my host all framed +in holly, and with the +heartiest handclasp.</p> +</div> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + + + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo5" summary="illo5"> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='textfit'> +<p>"Come in," he said, +and drew me after. +"The coffee is waiting." +And he beamed upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +the table with the veriest +Christmas face as +he poured it out himself, +one cup for his dear +wife and one for me. +The children—ah! you +should have asked <i>them</i> +if there was a Santa +Claus!</p><br /> + +<div class='cap'>AND so we sat and +talked, and I told +my kind friends that +my own dear old mother, +whom I have not +seen for years, was very, +very sick in far-away +Denmark and longing +for her boy, and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +mist came into my +hostess's gentle eyes +and she said, "Let us +cable over and tell her +how much we think of +her," though she had +never seen her. And it +was no sooner said than +done. In came a man +with a writing-pad, and +while we drank our coffee +this message sped +under the great stormy +sea to the far-away +country where the day +was shading into evening +already though the +sun was scarce two hours +high in Washington:</div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +</td> +</tr></table></div> + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo6" summary="illo6"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'><br /><br /><br /><br /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">The White House.</span><br /> +</div> + +<i>Mrs. Riis, Ribe, Denmark</i>: + +<p>Your son is breakfasting +with us. We send you our +love and sympathy.</p> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">Theodore and Edith Roosevelt</span><br /> +</div></div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo7" summary="illo7"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'><p>For, you see, the +house with the holly in +the hall was the White +House, and my host was +the President of the +United States. I have +to tell it to you, or you +might easily fall into the +same error I came near +falling into. I had to +pinch myself to make +sure the President was +not Santa Claus himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +I felt that he had in that +moment given me the +very greatest Christmas +gift any man ever received: +my little mother's +life. For really what +ailed her was that she +was very old, and I know +that when she got the +President's dispatch she +must have become immediately +ten years +younger and got right +out of bed. Don't you +know mothers are that +way when any one +makes much of their +boys? I think Santa +Claus must have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +brought them all in the +beginning—the mothers, +I mean.</p> +<p>I would just give anything +to see what happened +in that old town +that is full of blessed +memories to me, when +the telegraph ticked off +that message. I will +warrant the town hurried +out, burgomaster, +bishop, beadle and all, +to do honor to my gentle +old mother. No +Santa Claus, eh? What +was that, then, that +spanned two oceans +with a breath of love<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +and cheer, I should like +to know. Tell me that!</p></div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo8" summary="illo8"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'><br /><br /> +<p>After the coffee we +sat together in the President's +office for a little +while while he signed +commissions, each and +every one of which was +just Santa Claus's gift +to a grown-up boy who +had been good in the +year that was going; and +before we parted the +President had lifted with +so many strokes of his +pen clouds of sorrow +and want that weighed +heavily on homes I knew +of to which Santa Claus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +had had hard work finding +his way that Christmas.</p> + +<p>It seemed to me as I +went out of the door, +where the big policeman +touched his hat and +wished me a Merry +Christmas, that the sun +never shone so brightly +in May as it did then. +I quite expected to see +the crocuses and the +jonquils, that make the +White House garden so +pretty, out in full bloom. +They were not, I suppose, +only because they +are official flowers and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +have a proper respect for +the calendar that runs +Congress and the Executive +Department, too.</p> +</div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo9" summary="illo9"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'><br /><br /> +<p>I stopped on the way +down the avenue at Uncle +Sam's paymaster's to +see what he thought of +it. And there he was, +busy as could be, making +ready for the coming +of Santa Claus. No +need of my asking any +questions here. Men +stood in line with bank-notes +in their hands asking +for gold, new gold-pieces, +they said, most +every one. The paymaster,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +who had a sprig +of Christmas green fixed +in his desk just like any +other man, laughed and +shook his head and said +"Santa Claus?" and the +men in the line laughed +too and nodded and +went away with their +old.</p> +<br /> +<div class='cap'>ONE man who went +out just ahead of +me I saw stoop over a +poor woman on the corner +and thrust something +into her hand, +then walk hastily away. +It was I who caught<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +the light in the woman's +eye and the blessing +upon her poor wan lips, +and the grass seemed +greener in the Treasury +dooryard, and the sky +bluer than it had been +before, even on that +bright day. Perhaps—well, +never mind! if any +one says anything to +you about principles +and giving alms, you +tell him that Santa Claus +takes care of the principles +at Christmas, and +not to be afraid. As +for him, if you want to +know, just ask the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +woman on the Treasury +corner.</div> +</div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo10" summary="illo10"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'><br /><br /><br /> +<p>And so, walking +down that Avenue of +Good-will, I came to +my train again and went +home. And when I had +time to think it all over +I remembered the letters +in my pocket which +I had not opened. I +took them out and read +them, and among them +were two sent to me in +trust for Santa Claus +himself which I had to +lay away with the editor's +message until I got +the dew rubbed off my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +spectacles. One was +from a great banker, and +it contained a check for +a thousand dollars to +help buy a home for +some poor children of +the East Side tenements +in New York, where the +chimneys are so small +and mean that scarce +even a letter will go up +through them, so that +ever so many little ones +over there never get on +Santa Claus's books at +all.</p> +</div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo11" summary="illo11"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'> +<p>The other letter was +from a lonely old widow, +almost as old as my dear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +mother in Denmark, +and it contained a two-dollar +bill. For years, +she wrote, she had saved +and saved, hoping some +time to have five dollars, +and then she would +go with me to the homes +of the very poor and be +Santa Claus herself. +"And wherever you decided +it was right to +leave a trifle, that should +be the place where it +would be left," read the +letter. But now she +was so old that she +could no longer think +of such a trip and so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +she sent the money she +had saved. And I +thought of a family in +one of those tenements +where father and mother +are both lying ill, with +a boy, who ought to be +in school, fighting all +alone to keep the wolf +from the door, and winning +the fight. I guess +he has been too busy to +send any message up the +chimney, if indeed there +is one in his house; but +you ask him, right now, +whether he thinks there +is a Santa Claus or +not.</p> +</div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo12" summary="illo12"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'> +<div class='cap'>NO Santa Claus? +Yes, my little +man, there is a Santa +Claus, thank God! +Your father had just +forgotten. The world +would indeed be poor +without one. It is true +that he does not always +wear a white beard and +drive a reindeer team—not +always, you know—but +what does it +matter? He is Santa +Claus with the big, loving, +Christmas heart, for +all that; Santa Claus with +the kind thoughts for +every one that make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +children and grown-up +people beam with happiness +all day long. And +shall I tell you a secret +which I did not learn +at the post-office, but +it is true all the same—of +how you can always +be sure your letters +go to him straight by +the chimney route? It +is this: send along with +them a friendly thought +for the boy you don't +like: for Jack who +punched you, or Jim +who was mean to you. +The meaner he was the +harder do you resolve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +to make it up: not to +bear him a grudge. That +is the stamp for the letter +to Santa. Nobody +can stop it, not even a +cross-draught in the +chimney, when it has +that on.</div> +</div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> + +<div class='center'> <table class="illo13" summary="illo13"> +<tr><td align='left'> +<div class='textfit'> +<p>Because—don't you +know, Santa Claus is +the spirit of Christmas: +and ever and ever so +many years ago when +the dear little Baby was +born after whom we +call Christmas, and was +cradled in a manger out +in the stable because +there was not room<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +in the inn, that Spirit +came into the world to +soften the hearts of men +and make them love +one another. Therefore, +that is the mark +of the Spirit to this day. +Don't let anybody or +anything rub it out. +Then the rest doesn't +matter. Let them tear +Santa's white beard off +at the Sunday-school +festival and growl in his +bearskin coat. These +are only his disguises. +The steps of the real +Santa Claus you can +trace all through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +world as you have done +here with me, and when +you stand in the last of +his tracks you will find +the Blessed Babe of +Bethlehem smiling a +welcome to you. For +then you will be home.</p> +</div> +<br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td> +</tr></table></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illo14.png" width="600" height="363" alt="Final pages" title="" /> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Is There a Santa Claus?, by Jacob A. 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Riis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Is There a Santa Claus? + +Author: Jacob A. Riis + +Release Date: April 15, 2010 [EBook #31996] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: cover] + + + + +IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? + +[Illustration] + + + + + +IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? + +[Illustration] + +BY JACOB A. RIIS + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +1922 + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +[Illustration] + + COPYRIGHT, 1904 + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + + + SET UP AND ELECTROTYPED + PUBLISHED OCTOBER, 1904 + REPRINTED DECEMBER, 1904 + REPRINTED NOVEMBER, 1912 + + + + +IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? + + +"DEAR MR. RIIS: + +"A little chap of six on the Western frontier writes to +us: + + "'Will you please tell me if there is a Santa + Claus? Papa says not.' + +"Won't you answer him?" + +That was the message that came to me from an editor last December just +as I was going on a journey. Why he sent it to me I don't know. Perhaps +it was because, when I was a little chap, my home was way up toward that +white north where even the little boys ride in sleds behind reindeer, as +they are the only horses they have. Perhaps it was because when I was a +young lad I knew Hans Christian Andersen, who surely ought to know, and +spoke his tongue. Perhaps it was both. I will ask the editor when I see +him. Meanwhile, here was his letter, with Christmas right at the door, +and, as I said, I was going on a journey. + +I buttoned it up in my great coat along with a lot of other letters I +didn't have time to read, and I thought as I went to the depot what a +pity it was that my little friend's papa should have forgotten about +Santa Claus. We big people do forget the strangest way, and then we +haven't got a bit of a good time any more. + + * * * * * + +NO Santa Claus! If you had asked that car full of people I would have +liked to hear the answers they would have given you. No Santa Claus! +Why, there was scarce a man in the lot who didn't carry a bundle that +looked as if it had just tumbled out of his sleigh. I felt of one slyly, +and it was a boy's sled--a "flexible flyer," I know, because he left +one at our house the Christmas before; and I distinctly heard the +rattling of a pair of skates in that box in the next seat. They were all +good-natured, every one, though the train was behind time--that is a +sure sign of Christmas. The brakeman wore a piece of mistletoe in his +cap and a broad grin on his face, and he said "Merry Christmas" in a way +to make a man feel good all the rest of the day. No Santa Claus, is +there? You just ask him! + +And then the train rolled into the city under the big gray dome to which +George Washington gave his name, and by-and-by I went through a doorway +which all American boys would rather see than go to school a whole week, +though they love their teacher dearly. It is true that last winter my +own little lad told the kind man whose house it is that he would rather +ride up and down in the elevator at the hotel, but that was because he +was so very little at the time and didn't know things rightly, and, +besides, it was his first experience with an elevator. + +As I was saying, I went through the door into a beautiful white hall +with lofty pillars, between which there were regular banks of holly with +the red berries shining through, just as if it were out in the woods! +And from behind one of them there came the merriest laugh you could +ever think of. Do you think, now, it was that letter in my pocket that +gave that guilty little throb against my heart when I heard it, or what +could it have been? I hadn't even time to ask myself the question, for +there stood my host all framed in holly, and with the heartiest +handclasp. + +"Come in," he said, and drew me after. "The coffee is waiting." And he +beamed upon the table with the veriest Christmas face as he poured it +out himself, one cup for his dear wife and one for me. The children--ah! +you should have asked _them_ if there was a Santa Claus! + + * * * * * + +AND so we sat and talked, and I told my kind friends that my own dear +old mother, whom I have not seen for years, was very, very sick in +far-away Denmark and longing for her boy, and a mist came into my +hostess's gentle eyes and she said, "Let us cable over and tell her how +much we think of her," though she had never seen her. And it was no +sooner said than done. In came a man with a writing-pad, and while we +drank our coffee this message sped under the great stormy sea to the +far-away country where the day was shading into evening already though +the sun was scarce two hours high in Washington: + + + THE WHITE HOUSE. + + _Mrs. Riis, Ribe, Denmark_: + + Your son is breakfasting with us. We send you our + love and sympathy. + + THEODORE AND EDITH ROOSEVELT + +For, you see, the house with the holly in the hall was the White House, +and my host was the President of the United States. I have to tell it to +you, or you might easily fall into the same error I came near falling +into. I had to pinch myself to make sure the President was not Santa +Claus himself. I felt that he had in that moment given me the very +greatest Christmas gift any man ever received: my little mother's life. +For really what ailed her was that she was very old, and I know that +when she got the President's dispatch she must have become immediately +ten years younger and got right out of bed. Don't you know mothers are +that way when any one makes much of their boys? I think Santa Claus must +have brought them all in the beginning--the mothers, I mean. + +I would just give anything to see what happened in that old town that is +full of blessed memories to me, when the telegraph ticked off that +message. I will warrant the town hurried out, burgomaster, bishop, +beadle and all, to do honor to my gentle old mother. No Santa Claus, eh? +What was that, then, that spanned two oceans with a breath of love and +cheer, I should like to know. Tell me that! + +After the coffee we sat together in the President's office for a little +while while he signed commissions, each and every one of which was just +Santa Claus's gift to a grown-up boy who had been good in the year that +was going; and before we parted the President had lifted with so many +strokes of his pen clouds of sorrow and want that weighed heavily on +homes I knew of to which Santa Claus had had hard work finding his way +that Christmas. + +It seemed to me as I went out of the door, where the big policeman +touched his hat and wished me a Merry Christmas, that the sun never +shone so brightly in May as it did then. I quite expected to see the +crocuses and the jonquils, that make the White House garden so pretty, +out in full bloom. They were not, I suppose, only because they are +official flowers and have a proper respect for the calendar that runs +Congress and the Executive Department, too. + +I stopped on the way down the avenue at Uncle Sam's paymaster's to see +what he thought of it. And there he was, busy as could be, making ready +for the coming of Santa Claus. No need of my asking any questions here. +Men stood in line with bank-notes in their hands asking for gold, new +gold-pieces, they said, most every one. The paymaster, who had a sprig +of Christmas green fixed in his desk just like any other man, laughed +and shook his head and said "Santa Claus?" and the men in the line +laughed too and nodded and went away with their old. + + * * * * * + +ONE man who went out just ahead of me I saw stoop over a poor woman on +the corner and thrust something into her hand, then walk hastily away. +It was I who caught the light in the woman's eye and the blessing upon +her poor wan lips, and the grass seemed greener in the Treasury +dooryard, and the sky bluer than it had been before, even on that bright +day. Perhaps--well, never mind! if any one says anything to you about +principles and giving alms, you tell him that Santa Claus takes care of +the principles at Christmas, and not to be afraid. As for him, if you +want to know, just ask the old woman on the Treasury corner. + +And so, walking down that Avenue of Good-will, I came to my train again +and went home. And when I had time to think it all over I remembered the +letters in my pocket which I had not opened. I took them out and read +them, and among them were two sent to me in trust for Santa Claus +himself which I had to lay away with the editor's message until I got +the dew rubbed off my spectacles. One was from a great banker, and it +contained a check for a thousand dollars to help buy a home for some +poor children of the East Side tenements in New York, where the chimneys +are so small and mean that scarce even a letter will go up through them, +so that ever so many little ones over there never get on Santa Claus's +books at all. + +The other letter was from a lonely old widow, almost as old as my dear +mother in Denmark, and it contained a two-dollar bill. For years, she +wrote, she had saved and saved, hoping some time to have five dollars, +and then she would go with me to the homes of the very poor and be Santa +Claus herself. "And wherever you decided it was right to leave a trifle, +that should be the place where it would be left," read the letter. But +now she was so old that she could no longer think of such a trip and so +she sent the money she had saved. And I thought of a family in one of +those tenements where father and mother are both lying ill, with a boy, +who ought to be in school, fighting all alone to keep the wolf from the +door, and winning the fight. I guess he has been too busy to send any +message up the chimney, if indeed there is one in his house; but you ask +him, right now, whether he thinks there is a Santa Claus or not. + + * * * * * + +NO Santa Claus? Yes, my little man, there is a Santa Claus, thank God! +Your father had just forgotten. The world would indeed be poor without +one. It is true that he does not always wear a white beard and drive a +reindeer team--not always, you know--but what does it matter? He is +Santa Claus with the big, loving, Christmas heart, for all that; Santa +Claus with the kind thoughts for every one that make children and +grown-up people beam with happiness all day long. And shall I tell you a +secret which I did not learn at the post-office, but it is true all the +same--of how you can always be sure your letters go to him straight by +the chimney route? It is this: send along with them a friendly thought +for the boy you don't like: for Jack who punched you, or Jim who was +mean to you. The meaner he was the harder do you resolve to make it up: +not to bear him a grudge. That is the stamp for the letter to Santa. +Nobody can stop it, not even a cross-draught in the chimney, when it has +that on. + +Because--don't you know, Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas: and +ever and ever so many years ago when the dear little Baby was born after +whom we call Christmas, and was cradled in a manger out in the stable +because there was not room in the inn, that Spirit came into the world +to soften the hearts of men and make them love one another. Therefore, +that is the mark of the Spirit to this day. Don't let anybody or +anything rub it out. Then the rest doesn't matter. Let them tear Santa's +white beard off at the Sunday-school festival and growl in his bearskin +coat. These are only his disguises. The steps of the real Santa Claus +you can trace all through the world as you have done here with me, and +when you stand in the last of his tracks you will find the Blessed Babe +of Bethlehem smiling a welcome to you. For then you will be home. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes. + +Every page in this text was decorated with Christmas themes. The +[Illustration] tags were not included in this text version so that +reading might not be interrupted. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Is There a Santa Claus?, by Jacob A. 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