Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-07-27
| THE HOUSE BU|LDED
UPON THE SANDS
A Pearl Of Ancient Wisdom, Tried
And Proved by Ages
PARABLE OF TWO BUILDERS
Best Assurance Of Integrity Is Union
OF Ideals of Owner and the
Builder
IBy Noble Foster Hoggson, President,

by NOBLE roster HOggSon, PreSldent,
Hoggson Brothers. Builders.l
A pearl of ancient wisdom, tried
and proved by the ages, comes down
TO us in the form of the parable of
the two builders ,one of whom built
his house upon the rocks, and the
other upon the sand. 1t was an old
saw when Solomon, the forebear of
the Nazarene, who transmitted il to
us. built the temple at Jerusalem. II
came, quite possibly, out of Egypt,
were the two foundations readiest to
hand. Be its original what it may, it
epitomizes all that has ever been said
since time began concerning good
building and bad building.
The first to utter the proverb knew
an integrity which has both an
ethical side caomes home to the owner
must begin with the foundation and
extend to the peak of the roof. The
thical side comes home to the owner
and the builder, for dishonest houses
are SO CilltA lAiOuSH lnC ldCh
of high ideals in the builder, or the
stubbornness of an owner who will
not listen to honest advice But what
ever the source of the fault, the build
ing that lacks integrity-which wants
the harmony of purpose. plan and ap-
pearance which makes at once for
effectiveness and for beauty is like a
man who. having many virtues and a
few glaring faults, proves to be the
most disappointing of friends.
The house that has integrity, that
has not staunch, honest character
from basement to roofbeams.is build
ed upon the sands; and while it may
withstand the ordinary winds of
heaven, it will not withstand the
| breath of professional criticism, and.
| in the end, may be almost as much
| of burden and loss to its owner
as if it had fallen before the storm.
The house that is to be built upon
| the rock, that is, have integrity of
I. plan and material, must be well plan
ned. Back of the designer, the archi-
tect, the builder and various contrac
tors, must be a mind of correlating
all these functions into a harmonious
working force, driven to a single end
IL the owner be capable of this
achievement so much the better; il
not, he had best call upon one who
| is.
He lays the foundation upon sand
who does not take thought as to the
| fitness of his architect his builder.
and all the functionaries of build
| ing operation--to rear in wood and
| iron and stone the dream that is his.
| A inefficient architect, a conscience
less builder, contractors working at
cross purposes with no direct respon-
ibility to one efficient directing hand
and one of these makes for disap-
| pointments in building comparable
| to that suffered by the optimistic an
| cient, who, ignoring the experience OF
| others, economical at the wrong place
| and lost outright the house that he
| had so unwisely built upon the sand
/ The best assurance of the integrity
| of building is the union of the
! ideals Of the owner and the builder
| A house has an inalienable right to
be we'll built. It's construction is a
task that should be approached with
| sort of reverent enthusiasm. The
owner who realizes this fact, and the
builder who insists upon it as due tc
his reputation, will produce struc-
ture that neither winds of HEAVIER
nor breath of criticism can shake
upon its foundations-fo they arc
not of sand.