My mother grew up on a farm in Michigan. When she was a child, her neighbor occasionally would hire boys to help him. After many years of hiring boys, he could sum up the worth of child labor fairly well. �One boy is worth half a man,� he said. �But two boys ain�t worth nothing.� Experience tells me that the same assessment applies to girls.

If you catch her in a reasonable mood, Day-Hay is a wonderful work companion. She and Mr. Philately painted Kat�s room this summer and he said that she saved him hours of work. Last spring, she and I tackled the basement and she saved me hours of work. If she offers to help with dinner, I get real help. If she offers to sweep, the floor will be clean�as long as no other child is around.

Once in a while, industrious activity occurs even with two girls but you never seem to get quite as much work out of two girls as one. This weekend, Mr. Philately and the co-head of the middle school stage crew were painting the wall on the sides and back of the stage black. (No one is quite sure why it has been off-white for years. No one who knows anything about theater has an off-white back of the stage.) I suggested Mr. Philately take Day-Hay along for help and he enthusiastically agreed. Then Kat volunteered too. I would have told her no but he�s a softer touch. Somewhat surprisingly, both girls worked together fairly well. I would have thought they had just violated the rule but then they �got tired� much sooner than Day-Hay would have gotten tired by herself.

Monday homework proves the farmer�s wisdom as well. Most days, getting homework done is not a major chore this year when Day-Hay is in a decent mood, is alone, and doesn�t have to write any paragraphs. Unfortunately, I pick up both Day-Hay and her friend, Soulmate, on Mondays. They come back to my house where I feed them and see that they get their homework done before they go to dance class. Before Soulmate was a part of the routine, Day-Hay got a lot of homework done in the hour or so before dance. But two girls ain�t worth nothing and only half as much homework seems to get done these days�unless I�m in the kitchen and cracking the whip constantly. Tea, anyone?

So, if you get a chance to hire an industrious girl like Day-Hay to help you, grab the chance�unless she has a friend with her.

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