Have crossed the bridge since then.

I see the long procession
Still passing to and fro,
The young heart hot and restless,
And the old, subdued and slow!

And forever and forever,
As long as the river flows,
As long as the heart has passions,
As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection
And its shadows shall appear
As the symbol of love in heaven,
And its wavering image here.
--Longfellow.

CXII. OBJECTS AND LIMITS OF SCIENCE. (394)

Robert Charles Winthrop, 1809-1894, was a descendant of John Winthrop, the
first Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. He was born in Boston,
studied at the public Latin School, graduated at Harvard in 1828, and
studied law with Daniel Webster. Possessing an ample fortune, he made
little effort to practice his profession. In 1834 he was elected to the
Legislature of his native state, and was reelected five times; three years
he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1840 he was chosen to
Congress, and sat as Representative for ten years. In 1847 he was chosen
Speaker of the House. He also served a short time in the Senate. His
published writings are chiefly in the form of addresses and speeches; they
are easy, finished, and scholarly. As a speaker, Mr. Winthrop was ready,
full-voiced, and self-possessed.
###

There are fields enough for the wildest and most extravagant theorizings,
within man's own appropriate domain, without overleaping the barriers
which separate things human and divine. Indeed, I have often thought that
modern science had afforded a most opportune and providential safety valve
for the intellectual curiosity and ambition of man, at a moment when the
progress of education, invention, and liberty had roused and stimulated
him to a pitch of such unprecedented eagerness and ardor. Astronomy,
Chemistry, and, more than all, Geology, with their incidental branches of
study, have opened an inexhaustible field for investigation and
speculation. Here, by the aid of modern instruments and modern modes of
analysis, the most ardent and earnest spirits may find ample room and
verge enough for their insatiate activity and audacious enterprise, and
may pursue their course not only without the slightest danger of doing
mischief to others, but with the certainty of promoting the great end of
scientific truth.

Let them lift their vast reflectors or refractors to the skies, and detect
new planets