[The Saucepan Man]

While I would agree that the Shire is an idealised place and largely devoid of the negative aspects of rural life in Edwardian (and modern day) England, hardship was not altogeher unknown there. Many Hobbits would, no doubt, have suffered during the Long Winter of 2758-2759 which hit Eriador and Rohan particularly hard. And the Shire is specifically mentioned as having suffered badly during the Fell Winter of 2911, when it was invaded by White Wolves. Although historic, as far as Tolkien's Middle-earth writings are concerned, Bilbo would have been in his early twenties when the latter occured. And so, it was within living memory of some of the older Shire folk at the time that Lord of the Rings begins.

Also, with regard to those Hobbits who reached ages of 80 to 90, wasn't this relatively young for a Hobbit to die? I believe that 50 (the age at which Bilbo and Frodo set out on their respective Quests) was broadly the equivalent of 30 in human terms. Bilbo was old when he celebrated his eleventy-first birthday but, despite being "well-preserved", not unusually so in Shire terms.

Which all goes to say that, while their attitude to death may have been different to that of Men, I don't think that their experience of it was particularly so.