The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1906-07-17
Nun. Are shrewd shoppers.

Most people take it for granted that
when women enter a convent they lose
all sense of the value of worldly
goods said member of dry goods
firm in discussing the patronage of re-
ligious houses. LAS a matter Of fact,
nothing could be further from the
truth, and nuns are recognized every
where in the trade as shrewd purchas-
ers. Hard buyers, the trade term,
might be applied to many of them.
Having taken the vow of personal pow
erty, they are nevertheless as canny
as any business men when it comes to
a business proposition or an invest
ment of the moneys of their order, and
it is well known fact that some of the
most farsighted real estate investments
Of the United States are made by the
superiors of religious houses. Like
most feminine customers, nuns change
their minds and we are frequently
called upon to take back or exchange
goods which have been purchased for
habits, wells or household supplies.
Some firms make a speciality of re-
ligious trade, and separate apartments
are fitted up where the sisters can
rest, examine the goods and trans
act business far from the madding
crowd New York Press
The inhabitants of Borneo make use
of the same means for fixing the times
of their agricultural seasons as were
used by the early Britons and in Egypt
between 1000 and 1000 B. c., says the
Journal of the Asiatic Society They
rely, that is to say, on the time of ris-
ing of certain consultations just be-
fore the sun, known to astronomers
as their heliacal rising. Many an
cient temples are found to be oriented
to the point of the horizon. which
marks the heliacal rising of the Plei-
AIDES on May morning.
The natives of Borneo are using the
rising of the same constellation as a
guide to the proper time to prepare
their ground to grow their food sup
ply. When the dry season Is perceiv-
ed to be approaching two men are sent
out into the jungle to observe. There
they watch perhaps a few nights, per
haps a month, until the Pleiades are
seen on the horizon just before the In
creasing sunlight causes the stars to
fade Then they return to the village
and announce the fact The inhabit
ants now know that work on the for
est must be commenced. If by any
means they have missed the heliacaI
rising of the Pleiades and have delay
ed operations till Orion's belt is seen
rising just before the sun, they know
that they must work double shift. The
ground being cleared, they then wait
till the Pleades are at the zenith at
sunrise before they set fire to the rub
bish
The above Is the method adopted by
the Dyaks. Other neighboring tribes,
the Kenyahs and Kayans, make use Of
the length of the shadow cast by
stick at noon to determine their sea
sons Situated as they are between
the tropics, the shadow is cast on the
north or south of the stick, according
to the time of year. The length of the
shadow also varies as the sun passes
from Cancer to Capricorn and back.
The shadow is measured by means Of
a notched stick The notches repre-
sent the lengths of shadow which ex-
perience has shown to correspond with
favorable times for their various agrl-
cultural operations.
The Samoans on the other hand, fix
their seasons by the appearance of q
curious marine worm, which they call
the palolo. The val palolo, or time OF
the palolo, is the name Of one of their
seasons, as spring is one of ours. This
strange worm lives In the interstices
of the coral reefs and at certain sea-
sons makes its appearance In the open
sea In immense numbers. 1t is eagerly
gathered and eaten by the natives.
If the swarm appears, say, at
o'clock in the morning. 1t has totally
disappeared by 8 O'Clock. Both male
and female worms break up into in
Vulnerable fragments, and the eggs are
fertillzed in the water. The coming
of the palolo is regulated by the moon,
and yet, strange to say, in the long run
1t keeps solar time If the dates of its
appearances were separated by twelve
lunar months, then, reckoning by the
day of the month, it would be eleven
days earlier each year. On the other
hand, if it came every thirteen months
1t would be eighteen days later each
year. This is rectified by having In
every cycle of three years one interval
of thirteen and two of twelve months
Finally by the addition of an extra In
terval of thirteen months In cycle 81
twenty-nine years the error is less
than one day In century.