Newspaper History presents media sourced from a United States newspaper dating back 108 years.

  • Labor Day

    From The Tacoma Times, August 30, 1913. By Berton Braley.

    It’s time to be finished with playing
        It’s time to pick up and go home
    We’re done with our loafing and straying
        On mountain top, meadow or foam;
    We’ve got to get back to our labor
        And mix with the workaday mob,
    The summer time’s over with, neighbor
        It’s time to get back to the job.

    This day is the last of our heyday
        It marks our last fling for the year,
    And now we’ll look forward to payday
        And know that the autumn time’s here;
    For Labor Day’s rightly named, neighbor,
        It signals Tom, Harry and Bob,
    That it’s time to go back to their labor
        It’s time to get back on the job!

    The season of loafing is over
        The season of languor is done
    We’ve got to quit lying in clover
        And get back to work on the run.
    And though we may question it, neighbor,
        And though we may blubber and sob,
    We’re pleased at the summons to labor,
        We’re glad to get back on the job!