to point out
the various differences to be found in German, French, etc. would only
confuse the young apprentice.

These rules grow out of a fundamental principle.

The purpose of capitals is to emphasize the words in which they are
employed. With the exception of the cases of the words _I_ and _O_,
which are capitalized for typographical reasons, this idea of calling
special attention to a word, or words, for one reason or another will be
found to be at the bottom of the variations in usage in different
printing offices and by different writers. The same tendency is
observable here which is so evident in style and in punctuation. Direct
statements, simple sentences as free from involution and complication as
possible, are more and more taking the place of the involved,
complicated, and obscure sentences of old times. The ideal style of
to-day consists of simple words simply arranged. Such a style needs
little pointing. The reader is quite able to find his way through the
paragraph without constant direction. Punctuation marks are directions
at the crossroads of thought. Consequently the punctuation mark is now
much more sparingly used than formerly.

Just as we have found out that well chosen words can tell their story
with very few marks of interpretation so we have found out that they can
tell their story with very few marks of emphasis. The use of capitals
has decreased greatly during the last two centuries and is constantly
decreasing, and this tendency is likely to go still further. The great
DeVinne whose books on _The Practice of Typography_, written ten to
fifteen years ago, are still of the highest authority was thoroughly
up-to-date in his methods and was remarkable for the restrained and
refined good taste which characterized all his recommendations, but in
some points restraint in the use of capitals has gone even beyond his
precepts.

It is worth while to remember that the real implement of English speech
is the word, not the point nor the letter form. Just to the extent that
we rely on marks of punctuation and emphasis to convey our meaning we
betray our ignorance of the really significant elements of the language.
The schoolgirl says she "had a _perfectly splendid_ time" at the dance,
when she tells about it in her letter to her dearest friend. If
"perfectly splendid" were a proper term to use in such a connection,
which it is not, the words themselves would carry all the emphasis
possible. Nothing