Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-09-05
THE PUMP IN THE YARD.
A Social Center, as Well as a Source
of Refreshment and Cleanliness.

Next TO the fire escape the tenement
i house pump is the Institution abou
1 which the eaSt-side people have til,
most various associations. saws thu
i New York Evening Post The typica
/ "Croton-hl' Ster," as it is sometimes
Familiarity called, is composed of one
! continuous cylinder which rises from
the ground on the first floor clear tc
the top Of the house. with a handle
+ and sucker in the hallway of eacl
successive floor. Thus a man who
/ wants to raise water for himself has
! to lift all the pumps below and above
| him.
! This feature of the apparatus causes
no end of fun and trouble. Alone. il
would be an innocently stupid arrange
ment; but nothing and nobody is alone
over there. If there is nothing else to
complicate things, the human nature
mixes in to do it. So with the single
pump with its stored handles. A man
goes out to draw his water. Others
hear him work, and quickly seize the
opportunity to profit by his exertion.
They slip out above and below him.
and, turning on their faucets. fill their
jugs with a grin of satisfaction and
deyiltry. Perhaps the first drawer of
water is a rambunctiOus cuss. He
can't help feeling the added strain, so
he drops his handle and goes to the
stairway. Over the baluster he
shouts:
No, you don't; I'm on to that; come
off"
There is no answer. He listens.
sWearS bit, then resumes his work.
But Immediately the faucets below
pour out their streams, and. Of course
pour more than his. and he gets hot.
May be he is a fighter In that case.
"A man fell down stairs on the re-
turn of that precinct is all the police
learn of his having ''tlun'' somebody
down flight. Sometimes these quar-
rels cause bitter fueds in the houses.
which end in disturbances so large
that the original cause is forgotten bv
all except some gossip who starts the
tale Of some disaster. such as a fight
in which some skulls are fractured.
with: "Well, you see, Hogan oncet
long ago drew wat@r on O'Reilly's
pumpin', and"
But it is not fights only that start
at the pump. Love meets there, and
East-side love starts all right enough.
however it may end, sometimes badly.
When young it is pleasant to see. and.
it is said, to make. Standing in the
halls it is on common ground. Water
is an innocent thing ''for to go out and
GET so the girl of a strict family can
say she is going out to get a glass of
fresh water at any time. He is out
there, and, most important of all, it lis
dark at the pump. That is how it
comes that reporters who have to go
into tenement-house at night 10
cover a suicide are sometimes
startled to feel themselves brush
against a couple of silent human
forms. If the passer-by jumps or
otherwise manifests his alarm, one of
the mute couple smokers and the
fright passes off in a smile
The children like the pump with it's
drip, drip of water and it's dark in
definite holes in faucet and basin.
They stick things down in the holes
to keep the water in and make pond
on which to sail sticks. The faucet
they try to plug up, and enjoy the way
the water bursts out and flies ''all
over when some one on another floor
suddenly pumps the whole long pipe
full. OF course, if you are caught,
they "get in" these much-boxed
kids" But escape from dangers and
consequences makes up the excite
ment of their lives then as later. SO
that feature counts in.
The pump is the resort of the COS
sips. In old European towns, where
the town pumps serve as the market
and goSsiping centerS, many of the
tenement-house people were reared.
They are accustomed, therefore, to
this uneSsential function of a pump.
AS at home, they use it for clothes
washing, and for telling what some
body said, somebody did. When the
reporter has had to 20 to make in
quirieS at some room in a tenement
house. it has been observed that the
pump has another use. The other
tenants, curious to know what Frau
Hinckleheimers visitor wants, come
out for water, and listen more than
they pump. But the women love 1t
best as a center of gossip, and the
forenoon is their favorite hour.
AS for the pump itself, it is like the
people. 1t has to work all the time;
it is forced to it. But it grumbles and
complains at every stroke. Sometimes
it screams, another time it howls; it
may whine a few weeks and then turn
to croaking But it never saws wood
and says nix" as one tenant ex-
pressed the highest rule Of labor. II
the pump settles down to one voice
and tune, it assumes the place Of a
human thing and may be liked in
time. But generally speaking, tene-
ment-house people consider its noise
a bore, and when a thing is bore on
the east side it is characterized by
other names, queer and manifold
names, that shake the house ltke-l1ke
| a tenement-house pump.