Another parody of Evangeline, entitled _Picnicaline_ occurs in "Mirth and Metre," 1855. EXCELSIOR. The shades of night were falling fast, As through an Alpine village passed, A youth, who bore 'mid snow and ice, A banner with this strange device, Excelsior! His brow was sad; his eye beneath Flashed like a faulchion from its sheath, And like a silver clarion rung, The accents of that unknown tongue. Excelsior! It is possible that Longfellow had the motto of New York, "_Excelsior_," in his mind when he composed this hackneyed poem, which has served as the model for hundreds of parodies, and particularly for advertising purposes. A few of the more amusing only can be inserted. EXCELSIOR IN "PIDGIN ENGLISH." The following article is from _Pro and Con_, December 14, 1872. "Pidgin English is the name given to an absurd _patois_ which is used in conversation between the Chinese celestials, and the outer barbarians. It appears to be a physical impossibility for a Chinaman to pronounce the letter _r_ as in rough, cry, or curry, which he turns into lough, cly, and cully, as young English children often do. V, he turns into W, th into f, and to most words ending with a consonant, he adds a final syllable, as in _find findie_, _catch catchee_, &c. I, me, my, and mine, are all expressed by one word, _my_. The vocabulary consists of a few words of French origin, such as savey, one or two from the Portuguese, many common Chinese expressions, such as _chop-chop_ for quick; _man-man_, which means stop; _maskee_, never mind, or do not mind; _chin-chin_, good-bye; _welly culio_, or _muchee culio_, very curious; _Foss-pidgin-man_, a priest; and _Topside Galah_, hurrah for the top, or Excelsior. There is also a plentiful use of the word _pidgin_, which is simply a corruption of our word _business_, but it appears to be applied with the utmost impartiality, to a variety of most incongruous phrases. As an example of every day talk, a lady telling her nurse to bring down her little girl and boy to see a visitor would say,--'Aymah, suppose you go topside catchee two piecee chiloe, bull chiloe, cow chiloe, chop chop.' From a gentleman well acquainted with China and the Chinese, we have received the following clever imitation of Excelsior, which is pronounced a very fair specimen of Pidgin English":-- TOPSIDE GALAH! "That nightee tim begin chop-chop, One young man walkee, no can stop, Maskee colo! maskee icee! He cally that flag wid chop so nicee _Topside Galah!_ "He too muchee solly, one piecee eye Look see sharp--so fashion--allo same my, He talkee largee, talkee stlong, Too muchee culio-allo same gong-- _Topside Galah!_ "Inside that housee he can see light, And evely loom got fire all light. Outside, that icee largee high, Inside he mouf, he plenty cly, _Topside Galah!_