This will be delivered to you by my son Abraham who accompanied by Master Van Antwerp repairs to West Point to join the Academy. I hoped to have come with him and to have had the pleasure of staying with you a few days, but am prevented from doing the former & compelled to defer the latter until July. I hope the boys will so conduct themselves as to fulfil the just expectation of their country. I have endeavored & I hope not unsuccessfully to impress them with a conviction that not only their continuance in the institution but their future character & usefulness entirely depend on their industry & fidelity.