bessie thornton was not a terribly bright woman ( her great-aunt , the late evvie chalmers , had been fond of screaming to anyone who would listen that bessie 'would n't never pass none of those iq tests , but she 's goodhearted ' ) , her life on alva 's chicken farm was a hard one , and she lived most fully during her 'stories'- as the world turns , the doctors , and all my children ( she had tried the young and the restless but considered it 'too racy by half ' ) .