We have an animal here whose surname is the "jackass rabbit" It is
three feet long, has legs like a counting-house stool, ears of monstrous length,
and no tail to speak of. It is swifter than a greyhound, and as meek and harmless
as an infant. I might mention, also, that it is as handsome as most infants:
however, it would be foreign to the subject, and I do not know that a remark
of that kind would be popular in all circles. Let it pass, then -- I will say
nothing about it, though it would be a great comfort to me to do it, if people
would consider the source and overlook it. Well, somebody proposed as a substitute
for that pictorial Great Seal, a figure of a jackass-rabbit reposing in the
shade of his native sage-brush, with the motto "Volens enough, but
not so d---d Potens."
- "Doings in Nevada," New York Sunday Mercury, February 7,
1864, p. 3 (reprinted in Mark Twain of the Enterprise)
 [The
"jackass rabbit"] He is well named. He is just like any other
rabbit, except that he is from one-third to twice as large, has longer legs
in proportion to his size, and has the most preposterous ears that ever
were mounted on any creature but the jackass. When he is sitting quiet,
thinking about his sins, or is absent-minded...his majestic ears project
him conspicuously; but the breaking of a twig will scare him nearly to death,
and then he tilts his ears back gently and starts for home...But one must
shoot at this creature once, if he wishes to see him throw his heart into
his heels, and do the best he knows how...he lays his long ears down on
his back, straightens himself out like a yard-stick every spring he makes,
and scatters miles behind him with an easy indifference that is enchanting....The
Secretary started him with a shot from the Colt...He dropped his ears, set
up his tail, and left for San Francisco at a speed which can only be described
as a flash and a vanish. Long after he was out of sight we could hear him
whiz.- Roughing It |
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