"Three boys are no boy at all" (1850)

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(OXFORD DICTIONARY OF PROVERBS)
_Two BOYS are half a boy, and three boys are no boy at all._
The more boys that help, the less work they do.
c. 1930...

This is too easy.


(AMERICAN PERIODICAL SERIES ONLINE)
Letter concerning the New Canal.
SAMUEL. Boys' and Girls' Magazine and Fireside Companion (1848-1850). Boston: Sep 1, 1850. Vol. 6; p. 78 (3 pages)
Second page:
Uncle Joshua says that if ever he was thankful for anything, it is that you have gone out of town; and Aunt Polly says the same; for "birds of a feather will flock together," and one boy _being_ a boy, two boys half a boy, and three boys no boy at all, she has fairly made out the fact that when you and Barnabas was here there were no boys in Crowville Hollow.