| In the Vieux Carre section of New Orleans stands the | | | | cherished an inquiring love of Nature. He says that his |
| old cathedral. It is in the charge of the Oblate Fathers, | | | | earliest memories are entwined with roaming the |
| whose dedication is to work among the poor. So here | | | | countryside with a pal and observing the wild world |
| they have created a social center and set up a | | | | about him. And with his love of Nature went an interest |
| playground. Within the cathedral are the archives | | | | in wood carving. As a youngster he carved horses |
| containing records of births, marriages and deaths for | | | | and traded them for boyish treasures. Grown up, he |
| more than two centuries. The superintendent of the | | | | studied with the Oblate Fathers, but ill health stopped |
| community center and the keeper of these old | | | | his studies and he turned to social work and travel, |
| records is John Ray. Here he guards, copies and | | | | setting aside his carving tools. Finally came the |
| translates these archives, be they written in Spanish, | | | | opportunity to serve humanity at the old cathedral. |
| French, Latin or Italian. Here, also, he supervises the | | | | With this chance came also the opportunity to carry |
| work of the social center and sees that all goes well | | | | out the stifled desire to carve birds in his spare |
| on the playground. But one might find him sitting | | | | moments. |
| somewhere in this play area, surrounded by the shouts | | | | With a rare and delicate touch he began transforming |
| of play, hemmed in by the narrow streets and | | | | pieces of wood into captivating and authentic |
| close-built houses of the Vieux Carre, carving. | | | | creatures. He completed a series of bird carvings and |
| From the block of wood in his hand he will be | | | | placed them in a special case with a habitat |
| fashioning a bird, and he will likely tell you that what he | | | | background. Urged by delighted friends to go on, he |
| is doing transports him from the congested confines of | | | | has now completed a collection of three hundred and |
| the district to the wide open spaces. This is John Ray's | | | | thirteen birds representative of every group of North |
| hobby. He is a native of Ohio, and has always | | | | American bird life. |