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VOLUME 20; NUMBER 35 By The Way " by, Jbori3 Sander3 “Virginia O’Hanlon, 115 West IDENTIFICATION The cooperative models to whom I am indebted for the pictures you see on this page are as follows: The girls in choir robes at the top, left to right, are Eleanor and Karen Kirkegard, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Kirkegard, in the sanctuary of Central Metho dist Church. Across the bottom of, the page, Santa and his reindeer courtesy the O. M. Cobbs on Boundary street; Santa on the roof courtesy the W. H. Chapmans on Main street; the youngster at the chimney, unidentified; and the four enjoying the “Happy Christ- mas” are, left to right, Nancy, Jean, Paul and Ken Harmon, children of Mr. and Mrs. Meredith Harmon. (Sunphotos.) CHILDREN HAPPY 1 want to thank a very nice per son for making two little girls I know—and I’m sure many, many others—happy this Christmas sea son. As soon as Christmas deco rations started going up around town, each night these little girls had to drive by and look for “Ru dolph.” They remembered from one year to the next that Rudolph is supposed to. be on the O. M. Cobb lawn bn Boundary street, but several nights of looking prov ed to no avail. Finally they insist ed that their Morhmy call and find out why Rudolph wasn’t lighting Santa’s way this Christ mas. Mrs. Cobb told the mother, “we had just decided not to put Rudolph out this year, but if your little girls want to see him, out he goes.” Sure enough—next night—there was Rudolph, his red nose shining brightly—but no more brightly than the eyes of those two little girls when they saw him. So, to the Cobbs, for making many children happy, my sincerest thanks. THE LETTER Do you ever tire of “The Vir ginia Letter?” To me it is as much a part of Christmas as The Christmas Story, Jingle Bells, and “The Night Before Christmas.” In the event there might be a reader who has not seen the letter and the reply before, it is a letter written many years ago by Vir ginia O’Hanlon to the editor of the New York Sun, and his re ply. Here is what Virginia wrote: “Dear Editor: “I am eight years old. “Some of my little friends aay 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? 59th St., New York.” The editor replied in this man ner: “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been af fected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They, do not be lieve except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensive by their little minds. All _minds, Virginia, whether they be man’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in the in tellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as cer tainly 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 child-like 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 all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see SitJita C laus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus. The most real things in * the world are those that tieith- er children or 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 men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, fairey, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Vir ginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. “No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now', he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.” NEWBERRY, SOOTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1957 Crossing Point Of Interstate Highway Only about 30 persons braved the inclement weather Friday morning to attend the public meeting called by the South Caro lina State Highway Department to explain the new interstate dual lane highway soon to be built across Newberry County. This will be a link in the 680-mile high way which will stretch from Char leston lengthwise across the state to the northern portion, reaching on into Asheville and points in the mid-west. It will be a con trolled access highway and high way department officials say that it is conceivable that a motorist could enter the highway at Char leston and go all the way to Chi cago “without stopping”—meaning without encountering a traffic light. Present at the meeting to ex plain the proposed highway were F. E. McEachern, public relations assistant, S. C. Highway Depart ment; L. A. Hendricks, location engineer, T. J. Hendrix, assistant urban engineer, both with the State Highway Department; and R. S. Richardson of the Federal Bureau of Public Roads. All of the gentlemen are of Columbia. E. L. Blackwell, city manager, introduced these gentlemen. The highway will enter Newber ry County between Chapin and Little Mountain, about a mile east of Little Mountain at the loca tion of the present road. It will cross Highway 202, the Little- Mountain-Pomaria Road; then will cross the Southern Railroad on Route 773, the Prosperity-Po- maria road, near St. Paul’s Church. It will then cross the Jolly Street road, then Highway 219, the Newberry-Pomaria Road. The route continues across High way 34, the Newberry-Winnsboro road, just on the Newberry side of the County Home. At Highway 19, the Whitmire highway, the new interstate highway will cross about two miles towards Whit mire from the intersection of 19 and 176, or about four miles from the Newberry City limits. Going north, it will cross Road 81, the Long Lane road, and 21, the Ja- lapa-Cromer road. It will then parallel the present road until it hits Route 66 east of Joanna. (Continued on page 4) I Seasons Greetings! + $2.00 PER YEAB Let us Sin^ Praises at- this Qlorious Christmas time. Babson Forecast Will Be Published In Sun Jan. 1st. The Newberry Sun will publish Babson’s Business and Financial Forecast for 1958 again exclusive ly in Newberry County this year. It will be in next week’s issue of The Sun. A careful checking of the Bab son Preddictions made in the Busi ness and Financial forecast for 1967 upholds the remarkable av erage of the past years by being 88 percent correct. The score for the past 19 years holds the best and highest record for Annual Forecasts on U. S. Future Busi ness. This score ranges from a low of 80 percent accuracy to 95 percent accuracy in 1946. American business has no more inspiring personality than Roger W. Babson, internationally-known business commentator and invest ment adviser. An outstanding fea ture of his philosophy has been his lifelong insistence on the im- (Continued on page 4) “Twas The Night Before Christmas and All Through The House When, what to my wondering eyes should appear But a miniature Sleigh and eight Tiny Reindeer So up to the house-top the coursers they flew. With a sleigh full of toys—and St. Nicholas, too As I drew in my head and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound ■mi N •*, I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight! 1