Life — December 4, 1897 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "How He Comes" - Santa Claus Illustration This is a Christmas-themed illustration from *Life* magazine titled "How He Comes." The image depicts Santa Claus's journey to deliver presents, showing multiple modes of transportation: reindeer-drawn sleigh at the top, what appears to be figures climbing or descending on the right side, and a motorized vehicle (possibly an automobile or early mechanical conveyance) at the bottom right. The satire likely reflects early 20th-century anxieties about modernization replacing traditional Christmas imagery. While Santa traditionally travels by reindeer and magic, this cartoon shows him adopting contemporary transportation methods—automobiles and mechanical devices—suggesting how even beloved traditions were being transformed by industrial progress and technology during this era.