The aging process affects us all at different rates. Some
people of fifty-three, like the esteemed author, look a mere
thirty-five, with sparkling brown eyes, a handsome gait and the
virility of a steam train. Others, like the author's friend Colin, look
like little middle-aged men at twenty-one with middle-aged
outlooks of set ways and planned futures. In women the former
condition is common but women rarely suffer from the latter, being
fired with the insatiable drive of ambition for either an independent
and distinguished career in a still male-dominated world, or a home
and seven children by the time they are thirty followed by an
independent and distinguished career as a Cheltenham councillor or
a public relations agent for Jonathan Cape, in later life.
No such luck for Charles Charlesworth, who was born on
the 14th of March, 1829, in Stafford. At the age of four Charles had
a beard and was sexually active.
In the final three years of his life his skin wrinkled, he
developed varicose veins, shortness of breath, grey hair, senile
dementia and incontinence. Some time in his seventh year he
fainted and never gained consciousness.
The coroner returned a verdict of natural causes due to old
age.
Hugh Cory. Advanced writing with english in use. Oxford University Press, p. 34.
According to the text above
Charles Charlesworth’s cause of death was old age although he was only seven.
