[-193-]
CHAPTER XIX.
FREE DRINKING FOUNTAINS.
TILL lately the London poor had no means of getting water but
the pump or the public-house. Of the latter we can have but a poor opinion, nor
all the former much better. It appears that "the London pumps can never be
otherwise than dangerous sources of supply; the porous soil from which they suck
being that into which our cesspools and leaky drains discharge a great part of
their fluid - sometimes even a great part of their solid contents, and in which,
till very recently, all our interments have taken place. It is a soil which
consequently abounds with putrid and putrefiable matter. The water derived from
it invariably contains products of organic decomposition, more or less oxidised;
and it is a mere chance, beyond the power of water-drinkers to measure or
control, whether that oxidation shall at all times be so incomplete as to have
left the water still capable of a very dangerous kind of fermentation." We
are further told that, "the shallow well water receives the drainage of
Highgate Cemetery, of numerous burial grounds, and of innumer-[-194-]able
cesspools which percolate the soil on the London side of the Cemetery, and flow
towards the Metropolis. . . . That the pump-water also becomes
contaminated with the residual liquors of manufacturing processes. . . . · That
a man who habitually makes use of London pump-water, lives in perpetual danger
of disease."
But one of the greatest and most unexpected sources of danger
is, that the sense of taste or smell fails to warn us of the danger of using
such water, since clearness, coolness, and tastelessness, may exist, without
being evidences of wholesomeness. We are also told that "the carbonic acid
of the decomposed matter makes them sparkling, and the nitrates they contain
give them a pleasant coolness to the taste, so that nothing could be better
adapted to lure their victims to destruction than the external qualities of
these waters-hence the worst of them are most popular for drinking
purposes."
The nitrates with which these waters are charged generally
proceed from the decomposition of animal matter, such as the corpses interred in
London churchyards; hence the popularity of some pumps near churchyards; and to
such an extent are some of these waters charged with this ingredient, that J. B.
C. Aldis, M.D., declares the water of a surface-well (though cool and sparkling
to the taste) twice exploded during the process of incineration when he was
analysing it!
Under these peculiar circumstances it does seem strange that
in London the weary, the thirsty, and the poor have thus practically been driven
to the public-[-195-] house, and that they should
have been left without an alternative. A man toiling all day, bearing, it may
be, heavy burdens in the summer sun, miles it may be from his home, parched with
thirst, practically to quench that thirst has been compelled to resort to the
beer-shop or the gin-palace. And what has been the consequence, that the man has
been led to drink more than was good for him-that he has got into bad company -
that he has wasted his time and his money, injured his health, and possibly been
led into the commission of vice and crime. Every day the evil has been
demonstrated in the most striking, in the most alarming, and in the most
abundant manner. A benevolent gentleman at Liverpool was the first to see the
evil, and to devise a remedy. He erected fountains, elegant and attractive in
character, furnished with pure water, and in one day of about thirteen hours
twenty-four thousand seven hundred and two persons drank at the thirteen
fountains in that town. Of that twenty- four thousand seven hundred and two
persons, many would otherwise have resorted to public-houses or gin-palaces to
quench their thirst. In smaller places, where results are easier to ascertain,
it has been found that in reality the fountains do keep people from frequenting
beer-shops, and, therefore, do keep them sober. A gentleman who largely employs
workmen in ironworks in the town of Wednesbury, having recently erected
fountains for his workpeople, says that his manager has since observed an
improvement in their habits and regularity [-196-] of
attendance, attributable to their discarded use of beer, in consequence of the
facility of obtaining pure water which time fountains afford. The publicans in
London understand this, as it appears from the report of the committee of the
Free Drinking Association, held at Willis's Rooms last week, when the drinking
cups have been missing they have invariably been found at some neighbouring
public-house. The movement, as we have intimated, commenced at Liverpool; it was
not long before it reached London. According to Mr. Wakefield, the honorary
secretary of the Association, there was a greater need for t his movement in
London than elsewhere, owing to the fact that the greater radiation of heat from
a larger surface of buildings, less shade, more smoke and dust, and longer
street distances, combines to make London a more thirst-exciting place than any
provincial town. Mr. Samuel Gurney, M.P., was the first, who, in a letter
published in some of the London papers, called attention to the grievous
privation which the want of these fountains inflicted on the London poor, and
subsequently by his great personal influence and liberal pecuniary
contributions, and unwearied exertions founded the Association; the Earl of
Shaftesbury, the Earl of Carlisle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other
distinguished noblemen and gentlemen rallied around him. London parishes and
vestries have most of them come forward and contributed, and already nearly a
hundred drinking fountains have been erected by this Association. It is inferred
from the Liverpool [-197-] statistics that at least
400 fountains might be advantageously erected in London ; these could not be
constructed and kept in repair at a less cost than £20,000. To gain this sum
the Association appeals to the public. Last year the total receipts of the
Association amounted to £2,609; much more is required; a very good sign,
indicative of the appreciation on the part of Londoners of the boon offered
them, is found in the fact that the poor themselves are contributing voluntarily
and in an unostentatious manner to defray the expenses of erection. The plan of
attaching money-boxes to the fountains for the donations of friends has been
adopted, and the first money-box has been placed at the first erected fountain
on Snow Hill. So far as the experience of four weeks justifies an opinion, it is
very encouraging, and a sum of 8d. a day has been deposited in small coins,
varying from farthings to two-shilling pieces. The experiment is to be extended
to five other fountains, when, if successful, it is proposed to supply every
fountain with a money-box, when the erection will be more than self-supporting.
"Of all the efforts I have been called to make," said the Earl of
Shaftesbury, "there is none that so strongly commends itself to my feelings
and my judgment as time Free Drinking Fountain movement." The Earl of
Carlisle says, "Erect drinking fountains, and habits of intemperance will
soon show a diminution, and with a diminution of intemperance will be stopped
the most prolific of all the sources of crime and misery. Most people will [-198-]
say the same, and we look upon these fountains - elegant in character,
supplied with pure water - as a grateful acknowledgment by the richer classes of
the interest and sympathy they feel for those in less happy circumstances.
As evidence of the grateful interest elicited by this
movement in the humblest classes, let the reader take the following letters. The
first was addressed, "for Mr. Samuel Gurney Esquire who bilt the fountaine
Newgate Street."
to Mr. Gurney
esquire
July 9
Kind Sir
i take liberty to giv you my best thanks fore the butiful fountaine what you wos
so kind to giv to us poor men for Newgate Street and i would plese ask you sir
to be so kind and giv us 2 more cups extra fore wen in Newgate street i see the
squeeging and shovin for water for only the 2 cups of woman and little boys is
not enuff this verry hot days and God bless you Sir fore all your goodness what
you do
from a poor man in London.
Monday June the 20th
Gentlemen of the Committee
I see by the paper of yesterday time working Men had a large Meeting on the
fountain question. I think under your care and good Management the Working Women
could also form and do [-199-] much good. Also the
Ladies could associate with the working Classes as their Subscriptions could be
distinct from ours; as of course our means are very limited; but surely we could
most of us become Subscribers at twopence per week in so noble a cause that bids
fair to drive the curse of Public Houses from our land - King's Cross wants one
much, and there is room in the open Square also at the Portland Road at the end
of Euston Road. They ought to be round or Square with 4 or 6 places to Drink
from, with something of interest to mark to whose honour they were raised. One
Subject could be Prince Edward suppressing the wine houses in Gibraltar, 1792. I
think nothing could be better for the purpose as we all feel something must be
done to stop this crying evil that is sending thousands to Death and Madness -
the other subject could be Alderman Wood who rose from a poor Charity School Boy
of Tiverton Devonshire to plead the Duke of Kent's return to England that his
child, our present good queen, should be born on British ground; so we as a
people have to thank the late Sir Matthew Wood for that. I think the wives and
daughters of freemasons will give freely in respect to the late Duke of Kent who
spent I may say thousands to raise the standard of that noble order. . . .
Forgive these few remarks of A Soldier and a Mason's Daughter who has her
country's interest at heart.
J. DUNN X 103
Euston Road Euston Sq.
Gentlemen forgive the intrusion on
your time also my [-200-] bad grammar but remember
I hear and see every Day the Curse of Drink.
As evidence of -the filthy nature of London water and of the
need of fountains, let the reader take the following letter from Dr. Letheby,
the City Medical Officer, addressed to the Honorary Secretary of the Drinking
Fountain Association; and let the reader bear in mind that Dr. Letheby's
evidence is confirmed by that of upwards of fifty other medical gentlemen. Dr.
Letheby says,-
"From what I know of the habits of the poor within this
city, I am led to believe that the erection of drinking fountains would be of
especial service to them; for although the average supply of water to the
metropolis is abundant, yet the distribution of it is so unequal that the poorer
classes do not obtain their proper proportion; in fact, this has become so
serious a matter in most of the courts and alleys of this city, that I have
great difficulty iii dealing with it. You are, no doubt, aware that the water
companies have been obliged to shorten the time of supply ever since they have
been compelled by the Act of Parliament to furnish filtered water to the public;
amid, as the poor have not the means of altering the present condition of the
service, and adapting it to the new arrangement, their receptacles are never
filled during time short time that the water is on. Every contrivance is,
therefore, [-201-] used to secure as much water as
possible while it is flowing; but, partly from the filthy state of the cisterns,
and partly from the foetid emanations to which the water is exposed in the
over-crowded rooms in which it is kept, it is rarely, if ever, drinkable. The
poor, then, would be too glad to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded
by the public fountains, and would, I am quite sure, hail them as boons of the
greatest value; and when it comes to be known that the water which flows from
the fountains is as pure as chemical amid other contrivances can render it, the
boon will most assuredly be prized by all.
"At present, the public wells of this city are largely
used by all classes of persons; and, knowing what I do of the composition of
these waters, I have looked with much concern at the probable mischief that
might be occasioned by them ; for though they are generally grateful to the
palate, and deliciously cool, they are rich in all kinds of filthy decomposing
products, as the soakage from se4ers and cesspools, and the not less repulsive
matters from the over-crowded churchyards. What, therefore, can be of greater
importance to the public than the opportunity of drinking water which shall not
only be grateful and cool, as that from the city pumps, but which shall have
none of its lurking dangers?
"As to the quality of the water that is now supplied by
the public companies I can speak in the fullest confidence, for it is not merely
the most available for [-202-] your purposes, but
it is in reality the best supply that can be obtained. I need not describe the
admirable arrangements that have been employed by the several companies for the
purification of the water, but I may state that there is not a city in Europe
that has so large a supply of good water as this metropolis, and I do not know
where or how you could obtain a better. I say, therefore, without hesitation,
that the water supplied by the public companies is the best that can be used for
the fountains; and, seeing that it will be twice filtered, and carefully freed
from every kind of impurity by the most perfect chemical and mechanical
contrivances, there need be no hesitation on the part of the most fastidious in
freely drinking at the public fountains."