When times got tough, my pioneer grandmothers would've told me to buck up.

"My great-grandfather left New York state in the early 1800s bound westward. His adventures have come down by word of mouth in our family. He married a wonderfully brave woman who went with him to the wilds of Michigan, where they operated a trading post. Great-grandmother never saw a single white woman during this period. She bore several children without the comforting presence of another woman. One day her husband went into the forest to hunt, and he never was seen again! No one ever knew whether he met with a hunting accident or died at the hands of Indians. It must have taken great courage for Great-grandmother to pack her belongings and begin the long, dangerous trek back to Wisconsin, alone except for the children. She was an old, old woman when she died and my aunts can remember stories of how she clung to her worn Bible to the very end-- perhaps because it gave her strength and courage through her terrifying adventures."
--Mrs. Leonard Kristiansen, Nashua, IA

"Father was gone for the day when Mother saw a herd of wild, stampeding cattle bearing down on their frail little shack and the precious garden she had tended so lovingly (not to mention the tiny twins in their double cradle and the two-year-old daughter watching out the window). She snatched a red-checkered tablecloth and ran toward the garden waving the cloth. The herd separated and went on either side of the house, missing it and the garden. Mother was deeply grateful for deliverance!"
-- Ella Besaul, La Mesa, CA