“DEAR FATHER CHRISTMAS”

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21973, 23 December 1936, Page 7

“DEAR FATHER CHRISTMAS”

Children’s Letters UNSELFISHNESS SHOWN Father Christmas —or Santa Claus, according to the name the children give him —has to consider the health of his young suitors for presents. And “Santa Claus with the big book,” known to many youngsters, will not hold court for the children after to-day, because of the infantile paralysis danger. Most of the small people know this by now, and many of them have written to the old saint of Christmas Day, asking for gifts for themselves or perhaps for little brothers and sisters.

It is typical of the natural unselfishness of most children that few of the letters are without reference to some brother or sister even if there is only the naive request of an only child for a little brother or sister as a Christmas present. None of them doubts that Santa Claus intends to make his entrance by the chimney, and many are the assurances that this time-honoured passage has been properly swept for the occasion. Hen is one letter: Some Requests “Dear Santa Claus, “I am writing to say I would like a nice manicure set and a Japanese sunshade. My sister and I sleep out on the verandah, so you won’t have to climb down the chimney. We will set your supper on a little table by our beds. I will go to bed early on that night so as to be sound asleep when you come. . . .” That is from a nine-year-old. A letter reminding Santa Claus of an obligation entered into by proxy is as follows: —“Mummy went and saw you yesterday and you promised me a fishing line and a sinker, a double-barrel shotgun, and a book, so this letter is just to remind you. Roy has been a good boy and gave away one of his kittens to some children who had no kittens, and he is going to give one of his puppies to another little girl. So you can see he is not a greedy little boy. Hoping I will get my letter from you soon and wishing Father Christmas a merry Christmas. . . .” Perhaps the best instance ol thought for others is the letter of a child who asks for “a Crucifix with a white figure, if you can get one”:— “Daddy wants a pair of grey slacks and mother wants three cups, and Jean would like a little yellow mug to go with her little yellow plate." And a postscript-—"Please. Mummy says she thinks Joan would be disappointed if she saw us with our toys and she had nothing.” Example of Children The girls, most of them, ask for dolls, dolls’ prams, sunshades, and ornaments: among the boys, Santa Claus has been surprised—and perhaps a little disappointed—to find many wanting toy guns, tanks, and other machines of war. But many boys also have asked for meccano sets, bicycles, and toy trains, which never seem to lose their appeal at certain ages. Infantile paralysis affected one home during the iast epidemic:—“As I am not able to come and sec you I am sending you a letter. I have two sisters, but one has got ‘infantile’ from the last time. So mum and dad arc very worried about us going out the gate. My little sister, five years old, is writing too. For Christmas I want a doll and a Christmas stocking. I urn nine years old and I will be watching the postman every day for u letter from you. ...”

Santa Claus himself, when lie is inclined to meditate on the requests of the children, is impressed by their natural unselfish feelings. “If every man and woman in the community could be with me during my all too short mission among the children,” ho said yesterday, “they would become infected and almost overw helmed by the glorious spirit of natural goodwill, and step forward inspired to try to copy the example of the children.”