The history of the world is the history of human movement and resulting racial and cultural divides.  The history of The United States of America is writ on the pages of immigration. It is not surprising that when the travelers and the locals with diverse lifestyles and cultures are thrown together, both strangers one to the other, they react first out of curiosity and later, mistrust.  Here an immigrant farmer and his wife are helped by a trapper or mountain man to find a safe and easier way on their long trek.  Two ladies, one from the East and the other from the West look at one another across the polite space and each thinks,

 "What a strange life she has!"