Description of New York from Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man

image from Wikipedia

"New York City is the most fatally fascinating city in America.  She sits like a great witch at the gate of the country...constantly enticing thousands from far within, and tempting those who come from across the seas to go no farther."
....
"The last efforts of the sun were being put forth in turning the waters of the bay to glistening gold; the green islands on either side, inside of their war-like mountings, looked calm and peaceful."

From The Autobiograhy of an Ex-Coloured Man by James Weldon Johnson