Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus but that newspaper column was done at another time and in another place.

Nevertheless, the annual anticipation of Christmas magic so eloquently expressed in the famous 1897 editorial in the New York Sun also lives in the pages of our local newspapers. The existence of Santa in the Twin Cities was clearly evident to readers of the Lewiston Evening Journal in December 1924.

In the days leading up to that Christmas 84 years ago, there were dozens of accounts of special gift-giving to the needy.

A headline read, “Little State Wards Enjoy Christmas Tree at Lewiston City Hall.” Gifts were piled around two trees and nearly 100 orphans and homeless youngsters of the city ate ice cream and heard songs and stories before the presents were distributed.

Just below that story was another headed, “Santa Claus Visits C.M.G. Hospital.” Kids in the children’s ward of Central Maine General Hospital greeted the jolly gent who was said to have come directly from “his headquarters at the B. Peck Co.’s store.”

Hundreds of other deserving children in the area were remembered on that Christmas through the “Salvation Army List of Lonesome Children” published in the Lewiston Journal over a period of days. A first name and a number was printed with each child’s wish. New names were added as requests were filled, but the list grew rapidly and response was said to be slow at first. Then, with only hours to go, the newspaper reported, “Suddenly, the time arrived when Lewiston and Auburn were ready.”

The story said, “telephones began to ring, the elevator man began to direct people to the office of Santa, parcels began to arrive from all over the country, and mothers with youngsters of their own found means to help other children.”

These public efforts showed the compassion of Twin Cities’ residents.

There also was a very special private expression of generosity reported in those 1924 papers.

Dr. L.J. Dumont, Lewiston’s health officer, learned of the dire circumstances of a local family when he was forced to quarantine a father and his eight sons for scarlet fever. He and others decided they could help.

On Christmas Eve, Dr. Dumont “piled his automobile high with the gifts that had poured in and, like a true Santa Claus, swooped down on the little family huddled about a little stove in their two-room dwelling.

“Hardly able to believe his own eyes, the father walked up to the big pile of gifts, fingered them unbelievingly for a moment and then began distributing them among his eight boys, who stood wide-eyed looking first from Dr. Dumont and then to the gifts.”

There were eight warm union suits, eight Teddy Bear sleeping suits and some blankets “which are certainly going to keep the cold out when they tumble off into happy dreams on those hard old mattresses tonight.”

It wasn’t all underwear for the kids. They also were thrilled with a toy car. There were groceries, too, provided by a local organization, as well as a mincemeat pie that the father prepared from a recipe his deceased wife used for every Christmas dinner.

Youngsters of L-A were not the only ones to enjoy a special measure of Christmas cheer in 1924. Judge Crockett of Lewiston Municipal Court also played the part of Santa Claus.

“This is the Christmas season,” he said as he addressed nine defendants seven of whom had been brought up on intoxication charges, one for reckless driving and one for speeding.

“Christmas is the most hallowed day of the year. You have so far forgotten the spirit of the day, become intoxicated, arrested and in court for punishment.

“But I feel that there are higher, nobler impulses in each one of you, and that you will not desecrate the day again. I am going to dismiss the cases and discharge each one of you,” Judge Crockett said.

The judge’s generosity didn’t extend to others, including two men charged with possessing one-to-three gallons of liquor.