The appalling little village of Rainneville must be tres desolated to-day, because Georges Carpentier has been knocked out. It will take the matter seriously to heart, and will be more forbidding than ever to the stranger, which is saying something. Now there seems to the ordinary man no reason why Rainneville more than any other French village should be desolated by the victory of Dempsey, but it is so. Rainneville carries on a poverty-stricken existence some nine kilometres from Amiens, and had no attractions. To the average visitor who came there inquiringly, nothing could brighten its appearance. Questions revealed the fact that it had an estaminet, which was nothing to boast of, and in days gone by there were two girls with pretensions to good looks, but. they have gone away now. The inquirer by this time used almost to be in despair, but then the tit-bit, which had been carefully reserved for him, was served up. Yes, monsieur, there was something for which Rainneville was famous. Here the uncle of Carpentier once resided, and here, when five years old, the famous Georges once came for a holiday. For years Rainneville has been living upon that visit of Georges as the only claim it has or ever was likely to have to fame. And now to think what Rainneville must be thinking of itself these days, since Dempsey has eclipsed Carpentier's fame. Alas Rainneville, others also monro, but from a different cause, principally from a diminution in ready cash as a consequence of backing the wrong man.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.