To keep readers abreast of great events that affect the course of history, TIME'S correspondents, writers and editors work long and intensely on the big stories, e.g., the Geneva conference of foreign ministers (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS, Toward the Testing, and FOREIGN NEWS, The First Step). But many TIME stories that cast new and fascinating light on life lie far from the scene of such historic encounters. Some of this week's examples:

AMONG the greatest collectors of art were Rome's Renaissance Popes, and under their patronage, Raphael and Michelangelo produced some of their greatest works. For a sampling in color of the Vatican Treasures, see ART, Matter and Spirit at the Vatican.

MORE and more U.S. families are joining a leisure-time brotherhood of the sea. See SPORT, Boat Fever.

GROCER Eouard Leclerc of Landerneau, France, and Homebuilder John Long of Phoenix, Ariz, have much in common: they are both young entrepreneurs who have startled their respective industries by bringing low costs and high volume. See BUSINESS, Apostle Behind the Counter and How to Live Like a Star.

ON a campus stretching 3,000 miles across Canada, one of the continent's most unusual schools gives muscles to soft college boys and book learning to tough laborers. See EDUCATION, Bush Teachers.

AMONG the most despised of creatures is the slug, a night-crawling enemy of every gardener. But one scientist collects them, thinks his study might help man adapt himself to difficult environments such as outer space. See SCIENCE, Slug Time.

I LEAD an ordinary life, doing ordinary things," says North Dakota Teacher Anne Carlsen in the understatement of the year. For the extraordinary life of the "Handicapped American of the Year," see MEDICINE, Handicap Winner.

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