Valentine's manual of the city of New York 1917-1918

([New York] :  Old Colony Press,  c1918.)

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The Sunday Quiet of New York

Many visitors to the city like a quiet Sunday and
strange as it may seem, there are opportunities—many
of them—where this inclination can be satisfied. The city
of New York itself is as quiet on Sunday as any country
village. The striking thing about New York is the still¬
ness of its streets, and those sections of the city that are
most crowded and noisy on week-days are almost entirely
abandoned and as still as a country bye-way on Sunday.
If any one wants to get a sensation of loneliness and
solitude let him take a walk down Broadway on a Sunday
afternoon. But the kind of quiet our supposed visitor
wants is that which is conducive to thought and restful-
ness in surroundings which harmonize with that state of
feeling. There are many places eminently adapted to
such a purpose and these right in the heart of the city.
Take for instance the Shakespeare garden in Central
Park. Here is a suggestion from a writer whom we have
not been able to identify but it so nearly expresses our
own thought on the subject that we are glad to place it
on record.

The Shakespeare Garden

"Perched on a knoll in the midst of Central Park is
the Shakespeare Garden, sweet and bright even now
when the Autumn is old, with rosemary and rue and all
of the dear, quaint blooms that are mentioned in Shake¬
speare's plays. Little paths wind among its bright beds,
and though from its modest eminence you may see the tall
arrogance of sky scraping apartment houses, and can, if
you listen, hear the quick, smooth purr of motors below
on the roadways, yet it is a glad and pleasant spot to light
upon in your Sabbath wanderings, and you are trans¬
ported many years in time and many miles in space when
you pass through the little green gate which gives you
entrance."
 

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