Editorial September 19, 1903 Issue

The Problem of Service

Labor Day has come and gone, and whose heart has not been touched by its appeal? "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the dust from whence thou wast taken," such was the curse pronounced upon mortal man, the representative of life in matter.

Labor in the material sense has ever seemed a heavy burden, but as the supremacy of Mind is recognized, its curse disappears. All should serve gladly, for the choice is between service and slavery. It is noble to serve, but ignoble to be a slave, and the spirit in which all work is done determines for each individual which of the two it shall be. The hands may be moulding common clay, while the thought is fashioning some rare thing of art fit for a king's palace, the artificer meantime beholding something of "the pattern shown in the mount."

The nobility of his calling should lift every man above all baseness, for work well done glorifies the lowliest station, while work poorly done degrades the loftiest. According to this it matters little where the service is performed, the statesman and the artisan stand in precisely the same relation to divine Principle which knows no favoritism. If the dignity of labor were only seen aright, every man would be proud to emblazon upon his escutcheon the prince's motto, Ich dien, "I serve."

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