1994 Ford Escort 94 Ford Escort idles too fast then stalls

Engine Performance problem
1994 Ford Escort 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive Manual 126k miles

HI THANKS FOR ANY HELPYOU CAN GIVE!
I've got a '94 Ford Escort Wagon LX, 1.9 motor, manual 5 speed with 126,000 miles on it.
THE PROBLEM: Currently, when started it revs up to 2.5kRPM and stays there for 2 minutes, then idle speed drops to 600RPM, runs rough, misses and then stalls unless you pump the gas. Once you give the engine gas it runs fine and drives normally.
Problem started gradually - it began to stall at traffic lights. At first I thought it was a vacuum leak (I'd had one on this car once before and new hose fixed it). So I replaced all the vacuum hoses. No improvement. I then replaced the ECG valve and plug wires and plugs. Still no change. I rented a diagnostic code reader from the auto parts store and it said that the IDLE CONTROL SENSOR and THE NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH were giving error codes. Being a cheapskape, I promptly went out to the used parts yard and pulled a used Idle Control Sensor and Electronic Computer from cars of same month and date of manufacture (4/94). Not one iota of difference. I couldn't locate the Neutral Safety Switch on any of the junked cars (and wonder if the manual transmission even has this?) So I didn't replace that The muffler has developed a hole. I wouldn't think that exhaust pressure would affect a car this much however. I did replace the fuel filter as well. I've read that a bad fuel pump could case a car to stall out, but the revving motor at startup doesn't make sense for that. THANKS!
- KB, Stuck in Minneapolis