"You are welcome, Hiawatha!"

Poet and writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on this day in 1807. Old Arrow Maker by Edmonia Lewis evokes a passage from one of Longfellow's enduring poems "Song of Hiawatha."

At the doorway of his wigwam
Sat the ancient Arrow-maker,
In the land of the Dacotahs,
Making arrow-heads of jasper.
Arrow-heads of chalcedony.
At his side, in all her beauty,
Sat the lovely Minnehaha,
Sat his daughter, Laughing Water.
Plaiting mats of flags and rushes
Of the past the old man's thoughts were
And the maidens of the future
Through their thoughts they heard a footstep,
Heard a rustling in the branches,
And with glowing cheek and forehead
With the deer upon his shoulders
Suddenly from out the woodlands
Hiawatha stood before them....
At the feet of Laughing Water
Hiawatha laid his burden,
Threw the red deer from his shoulders
And the maiden looked up at him,
Looked up from her mat of rushes,
Said with gentle look and accent,
"You are welcome, Hiawatha!"

Source: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Song of Hiawatha (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1855).

Pictured: Edmonia Lewis (1843-45–after 1911), Old Arrow Maker,modeled 1866, carved 1872, marble, 21 1/2 x 13 5/8 x 13 3/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman B. Robbins.