Rules for Spelling and the Use of Capitals

Another fun find from the 1880's business textbook in the one room schoolhouse at the museum! The transcribed  text is as follows:

Five Rules for Spelling

[There is a great variety of rules for spelling, but most of them have so many exceptions as to be a hindrance rather than a help. The following rules have few or no exceptions, and may therefore aid the learner.]

Rule I. Verbs of one syllable, ending with a single consonant, preceded by a single vowel, and verbs of two or more syllables, ending in the same manner, and having the accent on the last syllable, double the final consonant whenever another syllable is added; as, get, get' ting; o mit, o mit' ted.

Rule II. The plural of nouns ending in y, when y is preceded by a consonant, is formed by changing y into i and adding es; as, lil' y, lil' ies. When y final is preceded by a vowel the plural is formed by adding s; as, val' ley, val' leys.

Rule III. Nouns ending in o preceded by another vowel form their plurals regularly by adding s to the singular; as, cam' e o, cam' e os.

Rule IV. Words formed by prefixing one or more syllables to words ending in a double consonant retain both consonants; as, be fall', re buff'. The exceptions are, with al', an nul', dis til', in stil', ful fil', un til'.

Rule V. The word full, used an an affix, always drops one l; and its compounds, thus formed, make their plurals regularly by adding s to the singular; as, hand' ful, hand' fuls; spoon' ful, spoon' fuls.

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The Use of Capitals

1. Every entire sentence should begin with a capital.
2. Proper names, and adjectives derived from these, should begin with a capital.
3. All appellations of the Deity should begin with a capital.
4. Official and Honorary Titles begin with a capital.
5. Every line of poetry should begin with a capital.
6. Titles of books and the heads of their chapters and divisions are printed in capitals.
7. The pronoun, I, and the exclamation, O, are always capitals.
8. The days of the week, and the months of the year, begin with capitals.
9. Every quotation should begin with a capital letter.
10. Names of religious denominations should begin with a capital.
11. Any word of special importance may begin with a capital.

Sometimes I think the Victorians were far more intellectual than those of us in the 21st century. You would be hard pressed to find a majority of college students today that could comprehend this, much less follow these rules. Am I wrong to think that?