FATHER CHRISTMAS

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 307, 28 December 1934, Page 6

FATHER CHRISTMAS

DISILLUSIONMENT IN CHILDREN. (To the Editor.) I can't help thinking it is a pity that the shops should have so many Father Ckrtetmases in the town for a week or more before Christmas Bay. It is a pity to break down the old stories this way. My grandchild last week came home and said she had seen Father Christmas and then went to another shop and saw his brother, but the one at the second place was So-and-so, because she knew his voice. -When another grandchild was very little she asked mo one day if Mr. Coates was Santa C'laus. I said, "Why do you ask that?" She replied, "No one else has enough monev to buy everyone a present." I thought this was very quaint, but subsequently found out that children have the idea now that anyone can be a Santa Clans. It is no use threatening that if a child is not good Santa Clans will not bring him a present, because the last time I said this to a boy he asked, "How; do you know which one is coining?" Therefore the whole idea has lost its old-time romance and I am sure it is a great pity. SEVENTY-SEVEN.