When you connect to an AppleShare or File Sharing file server you can usually choose to have the computer automatically connect to a shared volume at system startup time. With Mac OS 9, the Servers folder in the System Folder holds the aliases to these shared volumes. The system attempts to connect to the servers whenever you start up the computer.
For related information on this topic, refer to document 25214: "Mac OS 9: Brief Delay When Desktop First Appears"