The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-06
HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT
Address BY
WARD BEECHER PICKARD.

The House That Jack Built, on a
foundation of character, with front
wall of honesty, self-mastery for one
side, perseverance for the other, rev.
erence for the other side, and rooted
with conscience, was the topic of the
lecture Saturday afternoon before the
Chautauqua assembly in the presenes
of large audience by Ward Beecher
Pickard of Cleveland, Ohio, who
proved both entertaining and interest
ing and drew from his tale of 1.-The
House That Jack Built" the great
moral lesson of character honesty,
perseverance, reverence, and the guild
ance Of conscience in a way which
carried his hearers with him and i'm
pressed upon their minds the lesson he
wished to teach.
It was one Of the treats of the course
and while totally different from some
of the other subjects which are to be
given before the assembly, left every
man and woman in the assembly the
better for the hearing. 1t was given
in an inimitable manner, at all times
kept the audience at the closest of
attention, and at times provoked en-
thusiastfc applause. DR.. Pickard will
speak again in the course and will be
welcomed by an audience which will
fill every seat in the large hall.
In opening his remarks he said that
John is a very common name and that
in the good old times when names
were scarce it was still more common.
e described some of those times, and
the evolution of the name to Jack.
Then referring to the present days of
higher criticism and hyper-criticism,
when nearly every historic fact or
supposed fact has been attacked and
Disputed, he said there is one historical
fact which stands out through the
lapse of time and which none has
dared to dispute. And that is that
Jack built house. Then he went on
20 oil Of he ne hill
earlier house of mankind from the
cave in the hills to the joining of
boughs for shelter to the architecture
of the present day, and said that the
measure of the progress of man is
largely told by what he has done. and
one of these measures is the house
which he builds.
An Object Lesson.
He showed that the instinct to build
is inherent even in the child, who tries
to build upon the floor with whatever
comes to hand, later goes into the yard
and advances in ingenuity and ability.
This progress of the child is similar to
the progress Of man, of the community
and of the race, of the evolution of in
genuity, and what man has built tells
the story OF his progress. What re-
lates to the preservation Of the history
of man kind relates also to the evolu-
ton Of the human mind. We are bet
ter than our ancestors, build better,
As with the child, who finds in
building there are certain essential
fundamentals, so with the people. Jack
finds a time when he tries to build a
cob house that he must obey certain
rules or it will fall over. that 1t must
have a firm foundation.
In the house which Jack built ana
which the speaker describes, the
foundation is character. the bedrock
upoH which his structure rests, the
fundamental things upon which all
other rests and which must be there
to preserve stability. And he tells of
Jacks experiences, that the best things
are hidden by God. not that men and
women may not find them out, but
that they may become men and worn-
en- by finding them. One of these best
things, one of the fundamentals which
underlie all of the rest, is the Word
of the Man of Gali1ee. All goodness Of
the world is exemplif1ed by Him.
Continuing the allegory, he de-
scribes Jacks digging for his bedrock
of character with pickaxe. of which
one point is inscribed, II enter any
opening" and the other inscribed,
where there is NO opening make
oue." Jack IL accosted by = friend