In that era a totally different method of teaching reading was used in public schools.
It was simple and it worked.
Phonics. And there were two sets of rules one must know to make it work that have been forgotten since the 1800s.
Silent letters are those which do not represent any element; and they must not be sounded in the pronounciation of the words in which they occur.
| 1. E final is usually silent; as in brave, crime, drone, abide, become, improve; able, marble, Bible. | 2. E is often silent before d; as in bribed, changed, hedged; cradled, handled, struggled. | 3. E is often silent before l; as in drivel, grovel, hazel, shovel, swivel, weasel. |
| 4. E is often silent before n; as in garden, hidden, kitten, lighten, spoken, taken. | 5. I is sometimes silent before l; as in evil, weevil. | 6. I is sometimes silent before n, as in basin, cousin, reisin. |
| 7. O is sometimes silent before n, as in bacon, deacon, mason, pardon, reason, weapon. | 8. B is silent after m and before t; as in comb, climb, dumb, jamb, lamb, tomb; debt, doubt; subtle. | 9. C is silent in czar, and muscle, and before k and t and s; as in back, crack, lock; indict, victuals, scene, scythe, scepter. |
| 10. D id silent in Wednesday, standtholder, and before g in the same syllable; as in badge, fadge, dodge. | 11. G is silent before m and n, and sometimes before l; as in phlegm, diaphragm; gnat, feign, consign; intaglio, seraglio. | 12. H is silent in heir, herb, honest; and after g or r; at the end of a word and preceded by a vocal; and sometimes after t; as in ghastly, gherkin, ghostly; rheum, rhyme, myrrh; ah, oh, halleluiah; isthmus. |
| 13. K is always silent before n; as in knave, knee, knife, knob, known, knew. |