"I've Been Working on the Railroad"

When I was a young boy, living in Mahtomedi, Mn, the song, "I've Been Working on the Railroad" was a big favorite---maybe because my dad did work on the railroad, as a railway mail clerk, and indeed his father before him had worked his whole life on the railroad also, and at the very end, at the age of 63, he was appointed the "Supr of Mails"...I know because I saw the article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1926 or 1927 that said "Irishman makes good"...and detailed his career....After this, Michael worked for the railroad, the Hill family, and I believe it was Lewis Hill. Growing up in a railroad family, when my dad came home from a trip, his "grip" or satchel, was in the hall...and he usually came home late at night, but in the morning on the way to school, I would check the "grip" because where he stayed in Williston there was a bakery next door, and he always brought home a bag of cookies, and some glazed ones were favorites of my sister Suzie and me....A cookie in the morning on the way to school meant all was right with the world.. Those were the days before zip codes...when the test to become a railway mail clerk was one of memory...and one that to "throw the case" or demonstrate that one knew above 90% or so, the proper mail order of the destinations...because the mail was thrown off the train on hooks that were next to the stations...so memory was the key to the job....another thing...was the payroll..it went by mail...and the head of the crew always carried a pistol to protect the money...I probably always imagined that Wyatt Erpe would have rode up to the train and then my dad would have to fight him off with the pistol....but it was real low key...and I never did hear of any incident.