1. Labor is any human effort having an aim or purpose outside of itself. It is difficult to define satisfactorily the term labor. No definition will quite mark off all the cases. The efforts put forth by men may be classified according as they are pleasant in themselves, and according as they have separable useful results. These two factors combine to form four groups of actions.
| Effort | Objective result sought | Name of action |
| 1. Pleasurable | Not useful | Play |
| 2. Pleasurable | Useful | Labor |
| 3. Painful | Useful | Labor |
| 4. Painful | Not useful | No special name |
The fourth combination is not found in rational life, for no motive exists to do a painful act for a useless result. Let us consider the other three.
Play
The first group comprises most of the sports, games, and pastimes found in every land and time. In the mere putting forth of the powers of mind and muscle there is a joy felt by children and men of all races, and this is heightened by companionship, emulation, and even by a spice of danger. Play is not dependent on a useful objective result later to be enjoyed, but, like beauty, is its own excuse for being. The tired student goes out-of-doors to bat the tennis-ball, making no change in the material world, except to wear out his shoes and to lose the ball, but finding that hour rich in the joy of life. If properly chosen, play strengthens and vivifies both soul and body, leaving an afterglow of health and happiness. The choice of sports and temperance in their pursuit are among the surest tests of wisdom in men and in societies. A love of vigorous play no less than the power of sustained work, marks the dominant and progressive peoples of the earth.
Labor as pleasure
Acts in the second group give pleasure and at the same time leave an objective result. The hunter gets more pleasure if he returns with well-filled bags of game, but the distinction between the sportsman and the "pot-hunter" is not hard to find. The one has his joy in the sport, the other in the material results of the sport. This kind of action presents some puzzling cases, but in general must be classed as labor, since labor is to be judged by the objective economic results rather than by the pleasure of the act itself.
Labor as sacrifice
In a third class are the acts that are painful in themselves, that are done unwillingly, but that leave a pleasurable result. Unfortunately a large part of the actions of men are of this class, which to most minds is the typical labor.
Joy in work is the ideal