604 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-CREATION
Then came the day of the chariot races. One span of horses was
without a driver. In desperation the owner sought the aid of the young
slave because of his mighty arms, and begged him to take the place of
the missing driver.
As Ben Hur picked up the reins, a great cry went up from the on-
lookers. "Look! Look! Those arms! Where did you get them?" they
howled, and Ben Hur answered, "At the galley's oar!"
The race was on. With those mighty arms Ben Hur calmly drove
that charging span of horses on to victory-a victory that won for
him his freedom.
Life itself is a great chariot race, and the victory goes only to those
who have developed the strength of character and determination and
willpower to win. It doesn't matter if we develop this strength through
cruel confinement at the galley's oar, as long as we use it so that it
brings us, finally, to victory and freedom.
It is an unvarying law that strength grows out of resistance. If we
pity the poor blacksmith who swings a five-pound hammer all day,
we must also admire the wonderful arm that he develops in doing it.
" ... Because of the dual constitution of all things, in labor as in life,
there can be no cheating;' says Emerson. ''The thief steals from himsel£
The swindler swindles himself. For the real price of labor is knowledge
and virtue, whereof wealth and credit are signs. The signs, like paper
money, may be counterfeited or stolen, but that which they represent,
namely, knowledge and virtue, cannot be counterfeited or stolen:'
Henry Ford receives fifteen thousand letters a week from people
begging for a part of his wealth. Yet few of these poor ignorant souls
understand that Ford's real wealth is not measured by the dollars he
has in the bank, nor the factories he owns, but by the reputation he
has gained through rendering useful service at a reasonable price.
And how did he gain that reputation? Certainly not by rendering
as little service as possible and collecting all he could filch from the
purchasers. The very essence of Ford's business philosophy was this:
"Give the people the best product at the lowest price possible:'