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March 25th, 1876. Uncle Ephrem’s Bit of Conver sation with Aristides Poly technus. (Reported for the Southkbx Cross.) Professor.— This is the very thing to which I object, in the name of human dignity and liberty, viz., to any man imposing upon himself a master. Each man is born free, independent from any other being; and, to remain true to himself, must not alienate that noble original prerogative of his. Ephrem.— This is a seducing theory, Professor, yet neither new nor true. It is a mere rehearsal of that preached, by Satan, years before philosophers scientists and Protestants were heard of; and for its truth, let us see. Is man absolutely independent as you would make him, Professor ? Indepen dent from his fellow ffien, I will grant you for the present; but is he indepen dent from his Creator ? Professor.— l would not answer in the affirmative, for though a skeptic as to many things in which you beleive, I admit the existence of a first cause as we scientifically term it, call it yourself Creator, God or any otner name, it mat ters little. There being a world, an effect, there needs be a cause of it, and an intelligent cause as that effect reveals intelligence of aim, arrangement and conservation. Ephrem. —And that first cause, that intelligent Being from whom all others have proceeded, God, the Creator and Conservator of the world as we, Chris tians, call Him, is He to be denied the right or ruling the work of his hands, be it material or intelligent; of framing for it the laws it should follow to reach the end of its existence which has been determined by Him alone. Philosopher.— These are deep ques tions. Ephrem. —Aye, and the most import ant, the first that demand the attention of true scientific minds. What say your philosop liy of this, Professor. Are we creatures altogether independent from the Creator, so that we can ignore him and his designs over us,or, to speak your new, yet no clearer language, can you conceive an effect so separated from its cause, as to be in no way influenced by it. Professor.— l cannot; every effect is linked with its cause, so that it cannot exist without its relation to it. Ephrem.— And can the effect exist, and be differently from what its cause makes it. Professor. —lt cannot, in any of its modes of existence or acts, because the very first notion of effect, its definition in fact, is that it depends on its cause for its being and the modes thereof. Ephrem.— And this is precisely what Catholic Christians claim for our God, our first cause, that He is so linked to us His creatures, the effects, scientifically speaking, of His Omnipotence, that we cannot exist Except by Him and in Him, and differently from what He will, without the risk of failing to be one day what He intends us to be, partakers of His eternal glory and happiness. Professor.— As logic, through scienti fic deduction has brought us to this point, I will not shrink from it. Be it therefore granted, because it is proved, that men no more than other beings are not independent from their first cause which I am also willing to call God with you, this being the name generally used. Ephrem. —Thanks for the concession, Professor. And now what prevents that you should “believe with us, be baptized, and obey the Pope?” Professor. —My most wonderful Roman Catholic friend, if your conclusion have all other merit, also they assuredly have that of quickness and profusion, you dis pense them as liberally as any young disciple of Esculapius his advices. Ephrem. —Another merit they have, Professor that of truth, and apro pos, as you shall soon confess. They are rigorously contained in the premises just granted by you, in the principle that God has the right to impose on His crea tures a certain end with the means to reach it. Professor.— Let me hear you deduce from this the necessity of my allegiance to the Pope. Ephrem.— Suppose that our Maker, who alone can determine our end and the means to reach it, deigned one day to Bend upon earth his Only Begotten Son, to reveal them to us; and suppose that this same Divine Son of His chose to ' spend only thirty-three years on earth, and on leaving it, to return to his Father’s house, empowered a body of men which He called His Church to rep resent Him,to teach all men in His stead, to the end of time, appointing a head to that teaching body, a head to which all the members should yield full obedience in all things pertaining to faith and morals; with words like these: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” And sup pose that of this Church thus constituted He would have said: “Behold lam with you all days, even to the consummation of the world; he that heareth you, hear eth me, he that despiseth you despiseth me,” again: “If he hear not the Church, let him be for thee as the heathen and the publican;” suppose all these were facts, Professor, would they not prove that you, as well as any other man, are bound to obey that Church and her divinely constituted head, the Pope? Professor.— They would, if they were facts. Ephrem. —And such they are, Profes sor; recorded in a book, the authenticity and integrity of which surpass those of any book penned by men, sworn to by twelve millions of martyrs, by all Chris tianity during fifteen hundred years, and even now, after Luther’s new departure, by the two-thirds of those calling them selves Christian. Professor.— These are strong proofs; I dare say, the best that history can sup ply. But that prerogative of infallibil ity, which you claim for your Church and its head, the Pope, is too much for the progressive theories of this nine teenth century, aud my own principles of philosophy. Ephrem. —Possibly; but not too much for God’s own unchangeable theories, and the principles of true philosophy. There is many a theory of the nineteenth century which will keep up progressing until it is changed into its very contra dictory, in the twentieth century; and with due respect to yourself, Professor, there may be more than one of your principles of philosophy that will under go the same transformation, chiefly your views of church fallibility. Aye, I make bold to assert that if you do us the honor to hear our own views on the sub ject and the reasons thereof, the trans formation I allude to will soon take place. Professor. —l am ready to discuss this question with you, to the core. Reason demands that both sides be heard and fairly examined into, before conclusions be drawn. Moreover, yours is altogether a philosophical way of proceeding. Ephrem. —l am gratified that you find it such, Professor, and at the same time I would beg to remind you that it has always been the way of the Catholic Church, ever since St. Peter wrote his— “rationabile obsequium' vestrum.” Let your submission be a rational one. Now for our views of church infallibility and the philosophical, aye scientific argu ments on which it stands. We are not afraid of reason, Professor; on the contrary, we challenge reason to object to any one of oui tenets, and in the question at issue I will do more; I will have you to admit with me that reason absolutely requires that the Church, which stands in the place of Jesus Christ upon earth, be infallible, and that the extent and location of that infallibility must needs be what our Church makes it. (to b continued.) The Round Towers of Ireland. The Round Towers of Ireland hive been a puzzle for our archaeologists. When, by whom, and for what purpose they were built, are questions which have given rise almost to as many theories as there are structures of this class re maining, On the one hand very able men have contended for their Christian origin; and one, not the main, argument in support pf this view is derived from the fact that a great number of them are found in connection with leading ecclesiastical establishments. But this might be reasonably enough accounted for without destroying the theory which assigns their erection to the Pagan period, by keeping in mind the principle which i* alleged to have guided St Patrick, in/elation to them. We have read somewhere that it was the custom of the, Apostle of Ireland to plant a Christian Church on the spot where Pagan rites were celebrated and to in dicate to change by inscribing a cross THE SOUTH EK M GROSS. on some of the upright stones existing in connection with the worship of our heathen ancestors. , He made a clean sweep of the books, the faith, the cere monial, and all connected with Pagan ism in Ireland. The Towers, however, were too many for him. He could not burn them, as he burned the books or writings; but he made the best use of them. They were good enough as keeps of the sacred vessels; and, though not exactly suitable, they might have accommodoted bells; while, as “times and seasons” were of importance to the early Irish Christians, they may have contributed to astronomical observations —one that we know in a lovely, lonely isle has the cardinal points distinctly defined. A Pagan origin and Christian usage do not, therefore, militate so much against those who hold the former opinion. The theory that they are of Danish origin is just as sound as that the Danes were the builders of the great raths in our country, such as Rath-Kel tair,. at Downpatrick, which was the stronghold of an Irish Pagan king, raised by his own people, and is an abiding place, and is an abiding evidence of their energy, industry and perseverance. The Danes had something more interesting to them on hands than the building of towers. They came to Ireland for plun der, and the Four Masters have told us how well they succeeded in their un holy mission. They never made any general settlement in Ireland; and in those places wherein they did settle they had quite enough to do to defend them selves. As has been so pertinently observed by the Very Rev. U. J. Canon Bourke, President of St. Jarlath’s Col lege, in his learned work on “The Aryan Origin of the C.. elic Race and Lan guage,” if the Danes were sojfond of build ing towers, why did they not erect round towers in England, whore they once had regal power? Why did they not build them in Normandy and Belgium? Why not in their own land, in Jutland, or Denmark, or Scandinavia? And why not in the counties they made their own in Ireland, in which are found a few of those relics of the remote past? The towers may be of Pagan or of Christian origin; but nothing could be clearer than that the Danes were not the builders. As to their Christian origin, the Jate Dr. Petrie is the great authority, and his views are adopted by eminent ecclesiastics Protestant and Roman Catholic;but Can on Bourke contends that Dr. Petrie’s proofs in support of .the thesis “that the round towers w\> vl * -ncted at various 'periods between me and the thir teenth centuries,” have. 10 convincing force, “because, in reality, it was simply an impossibility that . tell works of arch itectural art could have been built by the Christian population of Ireland, from the years a. and. 432 to 1172, when Henry the Second landed on the coast of Wexford.” Dr. Petrie himself admits that towers of such architectural excellence could not have been erected from the days of St. Patrick to the time of St. Engus of Cutdee;they could not have been erected while the Danes were cruising along the Irish coast, making descents on churches, hero and there, or set tling themselves on certain parts of the island. The only con clusion, therefore, at whichthemselves Canon Bourke could arrive is that the towers are of Pagan origin, which is the opinon of Vallancey, Lanigan, O’Connor, O’Brien and others, including Geraldus, who found them in Ireland when he came with King John The opinon of Dr. Lanigan is, “that it can scarcely be doubted that the original models, according to which the towers were constructed, belong to the times of Paganism, and that the sin gular style of architecture which we observe in them was brought from the East.” In other words, that they were built by the immigrants of the Aryan race who settled in Ireland, and who erected in their new home pillar-towers similar to those found in India, of whose origin the present inhabitance do not seem to know anything positively. If it were possible to connect the build ing of these “old majestic temples of our own dear isle” with the Christian period no one would be more willing to do so than Canon Bourke, who is a distinguish ed archaeologist, and evidently anxious to bring all he’can into the service of his own Church, at the same time that he writes in a liberal spirit which has given us much pleasure; but he cannot make them Christian in their origin. His study of the science of comparative philology has enabled him to identify thejearly Irish with the Arvan race, which he proves was possessed of suffi cient skill and power to erect these towers. In this respect his argument is very interesting. It is, briefly, that “sameness of achitectural features points to identify of origin,” and this sameness in the slanting doorway, the style pf arch, the material used, the'cement, the shape and size of the stones and the manner in which they are laid, is no where to be found except in the Cyclo pean buildings of the East, in PersPpo lis, Ecbatana, in Babylon as far as can be known, in Thebes, and in the Pyra mids along the Nile. The Palaces of Macha,at Emania, of Madbh at Crua chan, and of Aileach in Derry, as well as the architectural piles at Tara, were ad mittedly of Pagan origin; and Canm Bourke’s contention is that the men who built the palaces and the House of Tara were sufficiently skilled to build the Towers. They may have been con structed from the motive which actuated the builders of Babel, or they have been used as keeps for hostages, or as places of refuge, which last-named is Sir William Wide’s idea; but these consid erations do not affect the question at issue, as to the period when, and the people by whom, they were built. Canon Bourke has given the' subject much at tention, and he says—“lt is certain* * * * that the Round Towers had been the work of men skilled in the art of building; and we have seen that man kind possessed greater knowledge some two thousand years before the Christian era than they possessed at a later period. The Round Towers must, therefore, have been built at that time when men were best skilled in science and in the art of building. The records in stone in Egypt, in Syria, and Persia tell us that this was the earliest period after the deluge, when men were Cyclopean, if not in stature, at least in power of mind. Comparative philology proves this truth; and it is quite in accord with all that civil and sacred history testifies. Such is Mr. Bourke’s conclusion, and he has argued it out learnedly and logically. We refer to the matter in the hope of exciting a taste for the study of Irish antiquities. Of course in a worldly point of view there is nothing to be made of it; but life is poorly spent if worldly gain be its only object. The more Irishmen know of the real history of Ireland the less they will be disposed to think of the baubles too often produced under the name, with the view of exciting animosity to England or any other country. Canon Bourko, a Roman Catholic priest, says we are all children of the great Aryan family, be our modern name what it may; and this fact of com mon brotherhood between the people of the United Kingdom ought to make it the more easy to reconcile these people and induce them to work harmoniously for the promotion of our common good. -—Belfast News Letter. The Black Hills. Jerry Lewis, who has resided here for a decade and a half, for short inter vals of time, is a late arrival from the Black Hills, having left Custer city Saturday, the 19th ult., at noon, readied Cheyenne Wednesday evening, and Denver night before last. The trip, there fore, was made on quick time, and without a hitch or accident. A News reporter interviewed Mr. Lewis yesterday, and found him very communicative, and brim full of enthusi asm over the newly-opened diggings. He gives more information of a kind sought after just now that has been ob tained so far from any returned pros pector, and it is reliable. Mr. Lewis spent about a month roaming about the Hills, visiting most of the camps. Custer City and Hill City are the only towns in the country. The former is situated in a small, picturesque park,hemmed in by mountains. Harney’s Peak risin gon one side, and near by. The town site covers 640 acres, and this area embraces the whole of the park, so that the size of the town must be practically limited. The entire site has been laid off into lots 50 by 150 feet in size, which command prices ranging from $25 to SSOO each, according to de sirability of location and the eagerness of buyers. The principal street is named after General Crook. It is 200 feet wide. The other streets have a width of 150 feet, and the alleys are thirty feet wide, and all run at about the same an gle as the streets of Denver. Four hun dred buildings have been erected, and every lot on the town site has the foun dation of some sort of structure laid on, it. There are four regular saloons, where a bad quality of whiskey is retail ed, and six stores, where you can buy groceries, clothing, canned fruits, gum boots, or whiskey. A dance house is to be established soon, in Swareager’s hall, a log and frame building 25x80 feet, and a bevy of eight waiter and dance girls are now en-route from Cheyenne, their ar rival being eagerly and impatiently awaited. So far, nobody has had the enterprise or temerity to open a gam bling house, and, as there are only two or three decks of cards in the diggings, poker playing is a limited amusement. The five women in Custer city Indeed, in the whole country, are all respectable. But the advent of women of bad charac ter is expected daily. A few drunken rows, amounting to a little more than boisterous hilarity, have occurred in Custer city, but nobody has been killed, nor even hurt. The prominent discoveries are on French, Spring, Castle, Rabbit, Iron, Whitewooff and Deadwood creeks. The two last named are seventy-five miles northwest of Custer City. There had been a stampede in that direction for some days prior to Mr. Lewis’s de parture for Denver. During one week eight hundred miners passed through Hill Cn.y for the above named creeks. Very rich discoveries were reported to have been made there, but on those streams the bed rock lies near the sur face, the depth ranging from three to seven feet. These and the other creeks on the western slope are very small, but the fall is great, and the advantages for sluicing correspondingly good. On Spring creek the bed rock lies deep—- from twenty-five to forty feet; on French creek, at Custer City, a little nearer the surface, from fifteen to twenty feet There is comparatively but little water in French creek, and the fall is so slight, being less than a foot to the mile, that nobody knows yet, to a dead certainty, which way the creek runs. Sitting Bull’s band of redskins has been raiding the northern camps and altogether some seventy or eighty head of horses have been run off. A good many of the prospectors are, in conse quence, trudging about the country on foot, packing their tools and provisions on their backs. One miner, J. S. Mc- Call, from Montana, was killed and scalped last week by this same band. He was riding alone to Hill City for provis ions. Charley Mace, a Denver boy, be longing to a party encamped on Old Woman’s Fork, shot and killed an Indian who, with ten or a dozen others, was stampeding their stock. This occurred about ten days ago. Mr Lewis says that during a part of the winter the weather was very cold and the snow deep, but when he left Custer City the air had the mildness of spring about it, and men were building, mining, and going about generally in their shirt sleeves. There were no idlers or loafers in the country. Every man had an important objeetto accomplish, and . that was to make his fortune, and as quickly as possible. There are, it is es timated, 4,000 people in the Hills, and the number isgapidly auhmenting. Mr. Lewis thinks the country is one of in calculable riches. He doesn’t hesitate to predict that the bars on French creek will equal the famous Alder gulch in Montana, which yielded its millions. He will return shortly. As Mr. Lewis and his traveling com panions came out to Cheyenne, they found the road lined with soldiers, pros pectors, and vehicles. They were scarce ly ever out of sight of parties. On Mon day last, at Running Creek, halfway be tween Fort Laramie and Custer City, they met D. Tom Smith of Denver and 150 otlnrs, well armed and comfortably equipped, and a day later they met Har ry Mills, Charles Wilcox, Doc Bard, and Dick Darlington, also bf Denver with a party of thirty or forty, traveling at iv lively gait. —Denver Neivs. A Remarkable Case of Embez* zlement. Now a young banker absoonds with all his customers’ money. This case is little peculiar. The young man squan dered it all upon a woman; but who do you suppose that woman was ? Wlyr, his own mother! She is a very hand some widow, forty, who has a passion for fashionable life. The young man, her son, is a weak, good fellow, who loves his mother—as very few sons do—and can refuse her nothing. When he went into business for himself, she emerged from the humble boarding-house where they had lived, and took an elegant house up town, and commenced living in the style of wealthy people. She set up a carriage—she had the house full of servants—she gave elegant entertainments—she bought diamonds, and camel’s hair shawls, and, in short, she lived at a rate that made all her old friends turn green with envy. The son, at this time, was furnishing her with ’the means for all this extravagance, knowing that the end was ruin; but his mother liked it, and he was too weak tp say no. She probably knew that she was living beyond his means, but the madness was on her, and she could not stop. The end came last week. The young man and his mother sailed for Rotterdam, taking with them every dollar that was in the concern, and all that could be borrowed, begged or stolen. It is sup posed that the absconding, like all the rest of it, was the inspiration of the mother, for all who knew the young man believed him to be honest, if left to him self. The loss to the depositors will foot up $600,000, and there is as much more owing on notes on the street. This vast sum of money has been spent within five years, and tiiat it was spent there can be no doubt, for as near as can be ascertained they had mighty little to take away with them. The fine house was dismantled, though they had sold quietly all that they could without exciting suspicion. Curious case! Men have been ruined by women times enough, but who ever heard be fore of that woman’s being one’s owrt mother? —New York Cor. Auburn {N. Y.) Advertiser. No wonder President Grant wanted to “hunt” the Catholics. Everybody was having such a good time in Washington, that it could have been soothing to see the hounds on a wrong scent. Nero did the same, after dancing over burning Rome. When public indignation grew hot against him he began to “struggle, against Superstition and Ambition. 5