life; and some say he always
remembered that when he ran."

"How grating to the heart it must be to lose so early and have
a blight on one's reputation," mused the young man.

"But this horse always won every other race. And unlike our
first horse, when this Macedonian horse ran and knew he had beaten
the other horses, instead of letting up he redoubled his efforts and
ran even harder--as hard as he could--for he now ran not against the
fortuitous competitors with whom he began the race, but against his
own heart: against all horses past and all horses future, against
every horse in Macedonia and every one in Arabia, and also against
the ideal horse with a pace so frighteningly fast that few can
conceive its possibility. And even more than this, he ran toward
the perfection of excellence itself. And when he crossed the
finish line, as happy as he was to win, he secretly lamented that
his opponents had not been fast enough to threaten him and push
him onward."

"Even though he lost once," the lad remarked after a short
silence, "perhaps this horse was as good as the Arabian."

"Perhaps so, my child," said the man, with a smile. "Perhaps so."

It's Nut Valuable

Once upon a time a wise and thoughtful craftsman made a new
electric adding machine. It was very complex with many gears and
levers and wheels, and it did amazing things, always adding up the
numbers correctly. So the craftsman sold it to a businessman for
many thousands of dollars. All the parts inside the new adding
machine felt good about being so valuable. They worked hard and
happily all day, and often talked about how useful they were to
the businessman.

But one day a spring noticed a little nut just sitting on
the end of a shaft. The spring pulled at the lever he was
attached to and pointed. Soon the whole works knew. "You lazy
little nut," said a spinning gear, "why don't you get to work?"

"But I am working," said the nut. "Holding on is my job."

"That's stupid," yelled a cam. "I don't believe our maker put
you here. You just sneaked in to steal some of our glory. Why don't
you get out?"

"Well," said the nut, "I'm sure our maker knew what he was
doing, and that I do serve a purpose. I hold on as tightly as I
can." But all the machinery began to squeal and abuse the nut so
violently that he felt very sad and began to doubt himself.
"Maybe I am useless," he thought. He appealed to the shaft he was
threaded onto.

"