following ode, written for the occasion by Governor Howell: * = ````"Welcome, mighty chief, once more ````Welcome to this grateful shore. ````Now no mercenary foe ````Aims again the fatal blow-- `````Aims at thee the fatal blow= ````"Virgins fair and matrons grave, ````Those thy conquering arm did save, ````Build for thee triumphal bowers. ````Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers-" `````Strew your hero's way with flowers!"= After passing the arch, the general turned his horse's head toward the choir, and listened to this tribute of sweet voices with much emotion. After receiving the salutations of the citizens, Washington handed to the Reverend J. F. Armstrong a note acknowledging his * Governor Richard Howell was a native of Delaware. He commanded a New Jersey regiment from 1776 to 1779, when, in consequence of a new arrangement of the army, he resumed the profession of the law. In 1788 he was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, which office he held until June, 1793, when he was chosen governor of the state. To this office he was elected eight years successively. He died, April 28th, 1802, aged forty-seven years. [[[Interest of the Scene.--Washington's Note to the Ladies.--Reflections.--Grave of Mr. Armstrong.]]] {246}obligations to the ladies of Trenton. * The whole scene was one of exceeding interest. A hundred-fold more glorious was that arch, erected by such hands, to greet the presence of such a hero, than the gorgeous triumphal arches under which passed the blood-stained Roman conquerors, with their pageants of misery, and the rich spoils of desolated kingdoms. It was the tribute of the pure in heart to the truly great--= ```"Great, not like Cæsar, stain'd with blood, ````But only great as he was good."= * The following is a copy of the note: "General Washington can not leave this place without expressing his acknowledgments to the matrons and young ladies who received him in so novel and grateful a manner at the triumphal arch in Trenton, and for the exquisite sensation he experienced in that affecting moment. The astonishing contrast between his former and actual situation at the same spot, the elegant taste with which it was adorned for the present occasion, and the innocent appearance of the white-robed, choir who met him with the congratulatory song, has made such an impression upon his remembrance as, he assures them, will never be effaced. "Trenton, April 21, 1789."