No author is named in this book, but it must be the song mentioned above, written by John Stromberg in 1895:

The American Metropolis: From Knickerbocker Days to the Present Time: New York City Life in All its Various Phases
by Frank Moss (New York: Peter Fenelon Collier, 1897), page 309:


MY BEST GIRL'S A NEW YORKER

1. Singing in praise of your sweetheart, describing her many perfections,
Is just now consider'd a high art, so I'll tell you all about mine;
Tommy and Johnny and Danny, whose sweethearts can rival most any,
Will turn emerald-hued all from envy when they hear of my charmer divine.

CHORUS: My best girl's a corker,
Not the kind that's slow,
Born and bred New Yorker,
I would have you know;
You may sing about your Mollie,
Your Mamie or your Pearl,
They're all back numbers when compared
With my best girl!

2. If you could see what she writes me when I'm away from the fireside,
You plainly could tell that she likes me, this dear young charmer of mine;
Mamma has faithfully taught her to be a most dutiful daughter,
And that's why I love her and court her, this girl that I think so divine.