Life — December 7, 1916 — page 31: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two satirical illustrations. The top cartoon shows Santa Claus confronted by a figure labeled "Justice" with several children, captioned "You're a wicked old man!" — likely a sardonic comment on Santa's moral character or Christmas commercialism. The bottom section presents three apple varieties labeled "Baldwin," "Greening," and "McIntosh" with the subtitle "Some Standard Apples, of the Adam Variety." These are actual apple cultivar names, but the "Adam variety" reference is a biblical pun suggesting these apples represent human character types — playing on the Adam and Eve story. The caricatured faces suggest personality stereotypes associated with each apple type, making this a clever visual pun about human nature disguised as agricultural commentary.