The history books we study describe in broad terms how our country was peopled from overseas, how our forbears landed on the each coast and gradually moved westward across the land. In such a broad treatment of history, the intimate details of life are lost.

Here is a family saga that describes some of the incidents of life as it was lived during those years. Many of them were hard years, indeed, but through it all one sees only unfaltering courage, quiet joy in living, and confidence in the future. As all who read may see, the stress of so-called modern living is not new. To those who feel unable to cope with it, we commend the following pages.

Aunt Kate was widowed in 1950 and now lives by herself in the house built for them in Nampa, Idaho, by Uncle Lincoln, when they retired in 1941 from the farm in the Bowmont area.

Spring-time still means garden-time for her, and likely as not she celebrates a birthday with hoe and rake in her flower and vegetable garden. In the winter-time she is busy with her housework and with her hobbies, one of which is a cactus collection. Also in the plant­room are many other kinds of blooming and foliage greenery.

Another hobby is making quilts and stuffed animals. In her life­time she has made more than 100 quilts - so many that she has lost count. In recent years she has completed 21 crib-sized quilts for that many little grand daughters. Among the quilts she has made is one that brought her a first prize at the Idaho State Fair.

Her first stuffed animals were simply made dogs and cats. They proved so popular with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that she later added such things as giraffes, frogs, chickens, and brightly colored birds. These children love to visit grandma; they sit by the hour dressing and undressing the doll s or playing with the stuffed animals.

"With the ones who still live near enough to visit me often ­and with my friends, my church, my garden, and my other hobbies ­I find my life an interesting one. I like to keep busy," she says.

- Dorothea D. Betts