When two large cities stand opposite to one another on the banks of ariver, it is not likely they can do very well without a bridge toconnect them. Yet the citizens of New York and Brooklyn were obliged tomanage as best they could for a good many years before they had theirbridge. There were many difficulties in the way. For one thing, theriver is very broad; for another, the tall-masted ships ply up and downso frequently that it would never do to build anything which wouldobstruct their passage; and to overcome these difficulties would meanthe expenditure of a vast sum of money. But the folk who earned theirdaily bread in New York and lived in Brooklyn grew thoroughly tired ofspending chilly hours in foggy weather on the river-side piers, waitingfor the ferry-boat to come and take them across, and at last they beganan agitation which resulted in the Brooklyn Bridge.