Editorial September 17, 1904 Issue

The Dignity of Labor

The ceaseless movement of the wheel of time brings our annual Labor Day with its appeal to all who think deeply of the welfare of their fellow-men. If these anniversaries teach us lessons worth remembering, each successive year should find us more responsive to their higher meaning. When Labor Day comes we hear a good deal about the dignity of labor, and yet we may question how many there are who could satisfactorily tell us in what the dignity of labor consists.

In an address to her students, our Leader once said, "Your work, well done, would dignify angels" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 111), and is this not true of all worthy labor, whether manual or mental? There is no labor which does not call for some exercise of thought, and the more the intelligence expressed in a given task, the less toilsome it is and the greater the dignity of the work and the workman. The true workman really serves and expresses divine Principle, whether he scientifically understands this or not; and he finds that perfection is the imperative demand of Principle,—perfection in work and workman alike.

Longfellow's lines on the Alpine climber picture most vividly the man who ever presses on toward his lofty ideal, undaunted by the indifference of others, heeding nothing but the inspiration which urges his steps.

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