So it came to pass that some young families, who were going to set up new homesteads of their own, instead of crowding into some of the scantily measured lots of poor soil which were all that was left in the valley, collected the household goods and the domestic animals which were their due share of the community's property, and started off through the mountain pass, following the river. They were never heard of more. Others did the same. And still others, again and again. It was like bees swarming. From time to time children, brothers, cousins said good-by and went. None ever came back. None ever were heard from. All that was known of them was that they did not all go the same way. Some went west, and some south; and some northwest or southwest. And they never met or heard from one another, either. They became and remained total strangers; did not even know of one another's existence. But all treasured memories of the old home--the latest gone, of course, more than those that went first, who naturally forgot most in the course of time. The years went by--many hundreds of years; and great changes came over the world and the people that lived in it. They who used to keep much to themselves and look on one another with distrust and dislike were brought together in many ways; they made war, they traded, they travelled, and, either as friends or foes, learned to know and take interest in one another. What struck people most at first was how different they were, in looks and in manners, in mind and in language. Some were dark and some very fair; some quick and fierce, others slow and persistent. Those who lived in the South, where the sun is seldom clouded and the sea is bluer than the sky, were fond of all bright things, loved luxury and ease; those whose homes were in the North, where sad, dark woods sigh in the wind, where lanes and fields are wrapped in mists and snow half the year, were themselves sad and dreamy, rough of manner, but strong of heart. But if people from different countries wondered at the differences between them, they began to make other discoveries as they were brought together more often and more closely.