Front matter revised

The front matter of Hannah Foster’s The Boarding School, shows Foster vigorously advocating for a boarding school education for young women. In the front matter she writes “the foundation of a useful and happy life must be laid in youth,” thus implying that mental structures of women form early in life and that the boarding school process greatly contributes to the transformation of a young lady into a woman (Foster front matter). On the books cover Foster writes how she supports her claims on boarding school, “information, instruction, and advice, calculated to improve the manners, and form the character of young ladies” (Foster cover). The book’s front matter also includes a dedication to “The young ladies of America” telling them of “the many advantages of a good education” (Foster front matter). The information provided within The Boarding School’s cover and front matter enunciates the importance of a boarding school education, how this significance will be explained, and whom the book’s audience should be.