They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age." He continued to write that Santa Claus existed "as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist" and that the world would be "dreary" if he did not. Church argued that just because something could not be seen did not mean it was not real: "Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world." He concluded that: Initial reception Virginia O'Hanlon was informed of the editorial from a friend who called her father, describing the editorial as "the most wonderful piece of writing I ever saw." She later told The Sun "I think that I have never been so happy in my life" as when she read Church's response. O'Hanlon continued to say that while she was initially very proud of her role in the editorial's publication, she eventually came to understand that "the important thing was" Church's writing. In an interview later in life she credited it with shaping the direction of her life positively. The Sun's editor, Charles Anderson Dana, favorably received Church's editorial, deeming it "[r]eal literature". He also said that it "[m]ight be a good idea to reprint [the editorial] every Christmasyes, and even tell who wrote it!" The editorial's publication drew no commentary from contemporary New York newspapers. Later republication While The Sun did not republish the editorial for five years, it soon appeared in other papers. The Sun only republished the editorial after a number of reader requests. After 1902 it did not appear in the paper again until 1906, shortly after Church's death. The paper began to re-publish the editorial more regularly after this, including six times in the ensuing ten years and, according to Campbell, gradually began to "warm to" the editorial. During this period other newspapers began to republish the editorial. In 1918 The Sun wrote that they got many requests to "reprint again the Santa Claus editorial article" every Christmas season. The paper would also mail readers copies of the editorial upon request; it received 163,840 requests in 1930 alone and by 1936 had sent 200,000 copies out. Virginia O'Hanlon also received mail about her letter until her 1971 death and would include a copy of the editorial in her replies.The Sun started reprinting the editorial annually at Christmas after 1924, when the paper's editor-in-chief, Frank Munsey, placed it as the first