buddle-boy

Updated: August 10, 2026

When about eight years old he was put to manual labour, earning three-halfpence a day as a buddle-boy at a tin mine. At ten he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and while in this employment he endured much hardship, living, as he used to say, "like a toad under a harrow."

Samuel Smiles - Self help; with illustrations of conduct and perseverance