As a young boy, I sometimes traveled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mill carrier, and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure: There were animals to see, people to visit, and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did.

In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens, and when 1 was a boy it was such a fun to stick your finger 'through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.

On Dad' s final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. "Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route." he used to say, "and a story at every one. " One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.

Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read. "Nat, take these eggs to Marian; she's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs. " Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the groom:. bat the mail was always delivered On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate. A young wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few button on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank. Once, the amount came to 8 32,000.

A dozen years ago, when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad's death, the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't the case.

As I drove home, I noticed two lamp poles, one on each side of the street. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground. One box was painted green and the other was red, and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.

I made a turn at the comer and drove past the post office and across the railroad tracks to our house. Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps. There, at the door, stood Frank Townsend, Dad's postmaster and great friend for many years. So we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.

At one point Frank looked at me with tears in his eyes. " What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas?" he asked.

"The letters?"

'I guess you never knew. "

"Knew what?"

" Remember, when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in those green and red boxes on Main Street? It was your dad who answered all those letters every year. "

I just sat there with tears in my eyes. It wasn't hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one. I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood, and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had known so much about their homes and families.

For me, just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime.

Now, provide a numbered list of answers to these questions:

1. What other things were mailboxes used?
2. did the writer travel city roads?
3. was it boring?
4. who was he traveling with?
5. what day of the week did he go with his dad?
6. what season did the dad carry chicks?
7. how many mailboxes on his route?
8. how many stories?
9. how did the lady with no box get her mail?
10. what elkse did he do?
11. Who needed the eggs?
12. for what?
13. how much cash was in the box at one time?
14. What did he get on cold days?
15. what color were the Christmas mailboxes?
16. Who is Frank?
17. his Surname?
18. what did the writer not know?
19. which letters?
1. eggs
2. No
3. unknown
4. Dad
5. on Saturdays
6. Spring
7. 219
8. 219
9. took it to her
10. read mail, paid bills
11. Marian
12. baking a cake
13. came to 8 32,000
14. cup of hot chocolate.
15. green and the other was red
16. Dad's postmaster and great friend
17. Frank Townsend
18. dad answered all letters every year
19. letters to Santa