Word: pumper
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...their official anthem (chorus given above*) to the rhythmic accompaniment of pounded beer mugs in a big private dining room of the Hotel Brevoort, Manhattan. It was the "47th, 48th & 49th Fiscal Meetings and First Bicentennial Hard Times Party'' of the Guild of Former Pipe Organ Pumpers, a thriving, purposeless organization of men who at some time or other manned the pump-handle of an organ. Last week's meeting was typical of most (there have been nine), but it was bigger & better. Presiding was the founder and Grand Diapason, spare, bald-pated Author Chester Werntz ("diet...
...small boy (like himself) whose weekly chore before the electric-blower era was to sweat and grunt over the pumphandle in the organ loft. Theirs was the duty, indispensable to organist and choir, of keeping a crude pressure-gauge above the danger mark. On rare occasions, dreadfully unforgettable, the pumper might lag from exhaustion "and wreck a full throated anthem or a shrill soprano solo in the agonized screeches of the high pipes and the guttural grunts of the low ones as the wind suddenly expired." Least penalty for such dereliction: dismissal in disgrace. Reward for faithful service varied from...