What better way to celebrate Labor Day in 21st-century America than by ripping off somebody else's work?

I don't know about you, but in my book, nothing says Labor Day in the 21st Century like shamelessly exploiting someone else's labor. In that spirit, I offer this little piece banged out by E. B. White for The New Yorker's "Notes and Comments" in March 1954, drawn from the above-illustrated collection gathered by Rebecca M. Dale. (I would point out that I had to do every bit as much typing as White did. Less thinking, maybe, but come on, thinking? Good luck to anyone trying to garner even minimum wage for that.) -- Ken

WE'RE ALL AMERICANS

Dr. Sockman, the Methodist pastor, says the American city is more like a sand pile than a melting pot. "People are heaped together, but they do not hold together." Well, we have a letter telling us of an incident when Americans held together beautifully. The writer of the letter went, during his lunch hour, to buy stamps at the small post office in Bloomingdale's basement. Ahead of him in line was a lady who brought things to a standstill by changing her mind about what kind of stamps and envelopes she wanted, by running up a bill of more than thirty dollars, and by discovering that she didn't have thirty dollars and could she pay the balance by check? The line grew and grew. After a while, someone ventured to hope, out loud, that she wouldn't change her mind again, because he was on his lunch hour. At this, the woman turned on him and said, "You aren't even an American, are you?" The man was quite shaken by this, but the others in the line weren't, and they came to his aid instantly. "We're all Americans," shouted one of them, "and we are all on the lunch hour!"

That was no sand pile. People hold together and will continue to hold together, even in the face of abrupt and unfounded charges calculated to destroy.

Happy Labor Day!

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