Jessie looked startled, but she did not say anything. She walked on
with her box of pens. Perhaps she thought it was her fault for
unscrewing the lead soldier general, but Jessie did not like to blame
herself for anything.

"This morning you may draw the initial of your first name," announced
Miss Davis. "And then you may go over it in ink. I will come around
and help you, if you need help."

Sunny Boy was gazing down into his ink well and scarcely heard her.
How could he rescue the lead soldier before he drowned? He took his
best pencil and poked it down into the inkwell. Goodness, the ink was
deeper than he thought, and before he knew it his fingers were stained
black. Then he poked around with the pen Jessie had given him, but
though he could feel the soldier at the bottom of the inkwell, he could
not make the pen stick in him. Once the pen slipped and the ink
splashed out on the desk. Sunny Boy wiped it up with his hands. They
were inky anyway, and a little more wouldn't hurt.

He began to draw an "S" on his paper. Then he remembered that his
"truly" name was Arthur like Grandpa Horton's. Sunny Boy turned the
paper over and tried to draw an "A." But all the time he kept thinking
of the poor lead soldier down at the bottom of the inkwell.

"That looks very nice, Carleton," said Miss Davis.

Sunny Boy looked up. She was standing at Carleton's desk in the next
aisle. In a few minutes she would come to Sunny Boy's desk to see his
letter. If he was ever going to get that lead soldier, it must be now.