New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-11

B4BY BUNTfNG'S LFSSON IN LOVE
II is rarely the fate Of juries to render
verdict more satisfactory to the public than
that which subtracts from the bank account OF
Charles Arbucklc, more widely known as
"Baby Bunting,n the sum OF Si5,OOO with
which to solace Miss Clara Campbell for the
loss-ay, more than the loss. the wasting away
of her young and heretofore untried affections.
We say young affections. and young affections
we distinctly mean; for albeit Miss Campbell
had left the blushlng aurora of life so far be-
hind her as to mako its image in her face
rather matter of conjecture than OF record,
yet until her eyes met those OF Charles Ar
buckle her Baby Bunting. her heart was free,
her tender emotions all untouched. 10 this
plaintiff love was no empty word IL had
deep and momentOus meaning. Maidens
there are, sad to say whose so-Cailed hearts
can be transferred from one man to another
as easily as their unthnking heads can be
borne from shoulder to shoulder. But frivoty
had no place in Miss Campbells character.
She loved with the tenacious and accumulated
passion of fortyodd summers.
The defendant with revolving brutality
sought upon the trial to cast odium upon her
ardor by evidence tending to show that she
blcached her hair. He was fifty rcbulled, for
with calm dignity she informed the jury that
he. her accuscr, was himself con-
frmcd in the habit of dyeing his
mustache. Tho testimony arrayed against
tho defendant was overwhelming, and
IN every effort to meet it or to shield himself
from its crushing effect he was routed. The
letters he had addressed to the plaintiff were
put in evidence in great numbers, for she had
kept them ALL together with carefully copied
transcripts of her own replies, apparently with
view to the very contingency which after
ward unhappily arose. The wisdom of waiting
until years have matured the maldenly judg-
ment before falling victim to Cupid's wiles
is thus enforced in Miss Campbclrs experience.
1t may well be doubted, had this crisis occurred
when she was artless and confding. if she
would have been able to produce IN court such
~ convincing volume Of correspondence as she
was supplied with last week. Young women
who have 1T in them to place commercial
value upon their affections would do well to
bear in mind this leaf from Miss Campbelrs
interesting history.
Unquestionably 1T was this correspondence
which chiefly affected the jury In his letters
Arbuckle had insisted on being to her Baby
bunting" and on her being to him " BunnIe."
lie had plead with her "to II and K' him,
which mystic symbols of desire she declared
On oath to the jury meant to "hug' and to
kiss" He sent her "packages' and even
"tons'' of CHS" and "Ks." Some Of these
he designated as "nicc," while as to others he
made no particular professions. But still he
did not marry her. He was at all times ready
TO II and X, but never ready to wed. Slowly
but surely gray hairs were stealing In among
the plaintiffs dark tresses. Slowly but surely
The sun of life was dropping toward the west.
And at last, goadcd to desperation by the de-
PENDANTS hot zeal for HIS and KS unsanctihed
by the promise to love, honor, comfort and
keep and with all his worldly goods to her
cndow, she came tcarfuly before a jury of her
fellow citizens. holding the shreds of her torn
affections in her hands and asked for damages.
She got them, and she deserved to get them.
The sum accorded her is. we believe, second in
amount only to that awarded the too trusting
Miss FOrtescuc in her suit against that repre-
sentative young nobcman, Earl Cairns. But
what is $4,000, or even $4,000, to the
blasted hope an, the wasted heart which Miss
Campbell" Bunnie" no longer-will take back
with her to her dcsolatc home? What can
restore to her the serenity and peace of the
days when her heart was all her own, before
Baby Bunting and his dyed mustachcs came
a-wooing? No sympathy need be wasted on
Baby Bunting. There are times when man
should be punished as much for being fool
as for being knavc and it is moderation to
say of Baby Bunting that the evidence left 1t
somewhat in doubt to which of these classes
he belongs, if, indeed. he does not belong to
both. The size of the verdict against him i'm
plies that to the jury he appeared in the dual
character.