Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1882 — Mark Twain’s Friend. [ARTICLE]

Mark Twain’s Friend.

Austin (Texas) Siftings. He is not a rabbit at all. A rabbit is an unobtrusive little animal, who is found by scboolbays in a hole in the ground, at the end of a long track in the snow. The so called jack-rabbit is quite a different kind of soup-meat. His avordupois is about fifteen pounds and his ears measure from tip to tip, about sixteen inches. He does not burrow in the ground. He lies under cover of a bunch of prairie grass, but is very seldom found at home his office hours being between sunset and sunrise. He is to be found during the day on tbe open prairie, where he feeds on the tender shoots of the mesquite or sage-grass. He has two ways of pfotecting himself against his enemies. One way is to squat when he suspects danger, and fold his ears along his sides. By doing this he often escapes observation, as only his back is exposed, tbe color of which harmonizes with the brown of the withered grass. The other plan, that he uses when discovered and pursued, is to create remoteness between himself and his pursuer. In giving his whole attention to this matter, when necessary, he is a stupendous success, and is earnest to a faujt. When disturbed, he unlimbers his long legs, unfurls his, ears, and goes off with a bound. He generally stops after running about a hundred yards aud looks back to see if his pursuer is enjoying, the chase as much as he thought he would, and then he leaves for parts unknown. There are many fast things, from an ice-boat to a note maturing in the bank,but nothing equals the jack-rabbit. An unfounded rumor gets around pretty lively, but could not keep up witn him two blocks. When an ordinary curdog tries to expedite a jack-rabbit route be makes a humiliating failure of it. He only gives the rabbit gentle exercise. The latter merely throws up his ears, aud, under easy sail, skims leisurely along, tacking occasionally to give the funeral time, to catch up. But if you want to see velocity, urgent speed aud precipitate haste, you have only to turn loose a greyhound in the wake of a jack-rabbit. Pursued by a greyhound he will “let himself out” in a manner that would astonish a prepaid half-rate message. If he is a raobit that has never had any experience with a greyhouud before, he will start off at an easy pace, but, as he turns to wink derisively at what he supposes to be an ordinary yellow dog, he realizes that there is a force in nature hitherto unknown to him, aud his look of astonishment, alarm, and disgust, as he furls his ears and promptly declines the nomination, is amusing. Under such circumstances he goes too fast for tin eye to follow his movements, and prt'N'Uis the optical illusion of a streak of jiicu-rabbit a mile and a half long.