MANNERS & MORALS: The Least I Can Do

The old man who shuffled into Manhattan's Hook & Ladder Co. No. 3 on Christmas night did not look much like a philanthropist. His shoes were broken, his pants were frayed, he wore only winter underwear under his pea jacket. But the firemen knew him well as a man of good will and charity.

Last year James Smith, 73, porter at the New York Athletic Club at $31.55 a week, had dropped in on Christmas night on the same kind of errand. This year, from a rumpled paper bag, Smith dumped a cascade of dimes, pennies and other small change that...

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