Editorial September 4, 1948 Issue

A SONG FOR LABOR DAY

John Randall Dunn

In various parts of the globe a day each year is celebrated as Labor Day. In some countries this observance comes on or around the first of May; but on the North American continent, in most of the United States and the Canadian provinces, the holiday falls on the first Monday in September. A dictionary states that this day has been "set aside as a legal holiday, in honor of, or in the interest of, workingmen as a class."

To the Christian Scientist, all days are labor days, yes, and holy days; for what active Scientist is not a workingman or a working-woman? Our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says in her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 (p. 2), "The song of Christian Science is, 'Work—work—work— watch and pray.'"

Now there can be quite a difference many times between work and labor. Labor can be synonymous with toil and drudgery; whereas one's work can be joyful, interesting, and burdenless. The wise Carlyle in his "Past and Present" wrote: "Genuine Work alone, what thou workest faithfully, that is eternal, as the Almighty Founder and World-Builder himself." Then later on he makes the statement which has become classic, "Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness." Here a recommendation to students of Christian Science may not be amiss: Take the Concordances to Mrs. Eddy's writings and look up all of her references under "work." This will prove a task not to be finished in a day, but it outlines a most profitable and inspiring study.

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