[List-Cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 21 Jun 1823 - Death of Robert BOWMAN (2)

[Petra Mitchinson]

Saturday 21 Jun 1823   (p. 3, col. 5-6)

 

DEATH OF 

Mr. ROBERT BOWMAN, OF IRTHINGTON, 

IN HIS 118TH YEAR! 

 

[continued] 

 

"It may seem rather astonishing in this sickly, pill-taking age, that a doctor's recipe was never known to enter his house; for,
like many other old men who have enjoyed an uninterrupted state of good health, no argument could ever convince him of the utility
of the medical profession. The strength of nature and a good constitution, he thinks, are sufficient to withstand any distemper with
whatever severity it may make its attacks; and he looks upon the great increase of physicians and apothecaries as a melancholy
testimony of the credulity of modern times. To his industrious habits and temperance; to the restriction of the passions within the
limits which virtue and religion prescribe, and to the equality and serenity of his temper, which he never suffered an
over-solicitude for the perishable things of this world to destroy, as well as to the native vigour of his constitution, must be
attributed in a great measure the age which he has at present attained. 

 

"His stature hardly reaches the middle size; his frame is rather slender, except that he has a broad chest; and his countenance is
said to have had formerly much animation. He retains still a part of the vivacity of his youth, is always cheerful, and sometimes
facetious. He is communicative, but not garrulous, and is lavish of panegyric on past times, without any disposition to censure the
present. To a man who has attained his 112th year, it cannot be supposed that life can bring many pleasures. The companions of his
youth are all gone-a new generation has sprung up around him. With the author of the 'Night Thoughts' he may well say 

 

         "----- ----- My world is dead, 

         A new world rises, and new manners reign. 

         What a pert race starts up! the strangers gaze, 

         And I at them; my neighbour is unknown." 

 

But though every thing appears dreary and solitary around him, the tranquillity of his mind has not forsaken him; he reposes with
all the firmness of a good Christian on the hope that there is "another and a better world," where sorrow, pain, and care, shall not
enter." 

 

It was about three years after the date of this essay, that Dr. BARNES published his notice of Mr. BOWMAN, before referred to. 

 

"This interesting old man (says Dr. B.) enjoys exceedingly good health, and is content and cheerful. He is of the middle stature,
and says, when young, he was rather stout and very strong; that he was fond of wrestling, and considered himself an adept at that
sport. He joined in the amusements common among young people; and was rather partial to cock-fighting (which he now strongly
condemns), but was always sober and regular in his conduct. His parents both died when he was young. He married at the age of 50,
and had six sons, all of whom are now living; the oldest is 59 years of age, and the youngest 47. He has a great number of
grandchildren, and three great grand-children. His wife died at Irthington in the year 1807, at the age of 81. His sons pay him a
visit regularly once a year: they appoint a convenient day, and his friends in the village and neighbourhood are invited to meet
them; with him, this is a day of great rejoicing. 

 

"His chest is large, and his person well-proportioned. Although the hand of time has at length laid him prostrate, it has not yet
made much impression on his constitution. The texture of his body is not loose or emaciated, but firm and em bon point. His face is
not wrinkled or shrivelled, but appears tolerably plump, round, and rather florid. His sight is tolerably good: he never used
glasses, and can see at present every object around him distinctly. He hears very well, and his taste and smell are good: his
hearing and sense of smell, indeed, are uncommonly acute. His skin is soft and delicate; and his hair (which was brown in his youth)
is now white: he has had no teeth for upwards of forty years. He sleeps soundly in the night, and also during the day. Though he has
been confined to his bed for six years past, he can move all his limbs; but he is not able to walk, except with the assistance of
two persons: yet all his limbs are free from complaint, the right hand excepted, which is much contracted, and this he attributes to
an injury received a few years ago on his shoulder-joint. When he takes food, he always serves himself, using his left hand, which
is perfectly steady. 

 

"Between six and seven years ago, he walked to Carlisle, and says he saw the workmen laying the foundation of the new bridge,
returning home the same day. Only seven years since, he actually hedged, reaped corn, made hay, mounted stacks of corn and hay, and
assisted in making them: in short, he applied himself to all kinds of farm-labour, and was, to use his own expression, "always a
top-worker." He first took to his bed during some severe weather in winter, not in consequence of indisposition, but on account of
the coldness of the season: he has preferred his bed ever since, for the superior comfort he derives from it. He resides with one of
his sons, on his own estate, the fruits of his industry: his bed is placed in the corner near the kitchen-fire, and unremitting
attention is paid to him by the family. 

 

"He does not remember to have been indisposed during his life, excepting twice: the first time when he was very young, and then he
had the measles; the second, not many years ago, and then he had the hooping cough: one of his grand-children slept with him, and
they both had that complaint at the same time, he then being upwards of 100 years of age. He had no medical attendant, and does not
remember ever having taken a dose of medicine in his life. He was always strong and healthy: if he got wet while working in the
fields, he seldom changed his clothes, and would not unfrequently thrash in the barn, or use some other active employment, till they
became dry. He never took tea or coffee-was never intoxicated but once in his life, and that was at a wedding, when, he says, his
friends deceived him by putting something stronger than he expected into the liquor he was drinking. He very seldom drank either
ale, spirits, or wine; he gives two reasons for this, one, that he had no pleasure in intoxicating liquors, the other, that he liked
his money better, for he confesses he was rather avaricious. His common drink is water; his food, milk, hasty-pudding, broth, bread,
potatoes, an egg, a small piece of animal food, or any thing the family are taking: his clothing plain, but warm and comfortable;
his appetite good, and his bowels generally moved every second day. He generally took three meals a day, and dined about noon; the
hour of breakfast and supper varied; sometimes he omitted a meal, at other times took four or five, as appetite prompted. He went to
bed and rose at various times; sometimes he was not in bed at all. When he went for lime and coal, which he often had occasion to
do, he slept in the open air all night. Even at the advanced age of 80, during a part of the summer season he wrought daily at a
peat-moss, a few miles from Irthington, and being there late in the evening with his horse and cart, would sometimes unyoke the
horse, let it loose upon the common, and take his repose for the night in the cart. This is an instance of his great industry as
well the strength of his constitution: his principal object in remaining all night was, that he might be able to pursue his
employment early in the morning. His pulse is 68 in a minute, regular and strong; no ossification of the arteries of the wrist can
be discovered; his breathing natural; and his voice, which is rather strong, appears to have undergone very little change. His
mental faculties seem perfect; his memory excellent, as to particular occurrences, but he does not remember dates. He is alive to
every thing around him, and acquainted with all the news of the day; at least, with such news country people are generally
conversant in, and particularly with any thing that has happened in the village or neighbourhood. 

 

 

[to be continued] 

 

 

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