As the _for_ relation is here unmistakable, it should be made so at a glance in the punctuation by the use of a comma before “for” or by a colon after “slept.”
20. The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The above is the punctuation of the Common Version of Isaiah xi, 7. The American Revised Version uses a semicolon instead of the colon, thus making a series of the three groups of words. We think the latter poor punctuation, because the first and second groups form one picture, and the third group forms another. The two pictures are revealed by the use of the semicolon and the colon; and intelligently to read the verse aloud requires a shorter pause at the semicolon than at the colon. The two pictures are clearly indicated by “feeding” in one group, and “eating” in the other.
21. Virtue and wisdom are an up-hill road, where people do not advance without some effort; folly and vice, a down-hill path, where it requires some effort not to advance.
22. The custom of exchanging presents on a certain day in the year is a fine thing or a foolish thing, as the case may be; an encouragement to friendliness, or a tribute to fashion; an expression of good nature, or a bid for favor; an outgoing of generosity, or a guise of greed; a cheerful old custom, or a futile old farce, according to the spirit and the form which it takes.
This sentence, from a well-known writer, is poorly punctuated, and has another fault, which will be revealed by an effort to punctuate the group of words following “farce” so as to show to what it belongs.
The omission of a comma before the first “or” is proper; the use of one before each following “or” is unnecessary.
“A fine thing” and “a foolish thing” are general terms, and are followed by four illustrations in alternative groups,—for instance, “an encouragement to friendliness” is “a fine thing,” and “a tribute to fashion” is “a foolish thing.” This sense relation requires a colon after “be.”
“According to the spirit and the form which it takes” belongs to each semicolon group following the colon; and, moreover, it is a mere duplication in sense of “as the case may be.” It is difficult, by punctuation, unmistakably to separate this group from exclusive modification of the group it follows, and thus tie it to the four groups, where it seems to belong.