By 14 that had changed, but by 14 I was working heavy construction on a seawall crew between stints on a pile driver as a deckhand, worked on my grandfather's farm (and had for years) in the tobacco fields and baling hay, had been driving tractor for years, and had just joined the Volunteer Fire Department. I had my own boat (skiff) and a commercial fishing license. This was within a handful of years of the time of these allegations.
Legally, 14 year-olds are still not adults, but when we think of "children" the tendency is to envision grade schoolers, not nubile adolescents. We even call them "teenagers" instead of "children", and they are commonly not hesitant to remind adults of that change in status, even though the legal significance is moot.
In that same vein, my mother was cooking three meals a day for a whole farm when she was 12, By that age, she could drive anything with a stick, and often drove hay truck and silage truck during haying operations. She drove 2T grain trucks to the grain elevators in town as soon as she was legal to drive (14 1/2 or so) She also managed the chicken operation, both eggs and meat, worked the garden and canning, putting up food. And she made dresses for herself and her sister.
I would readily assure you her mental maturity and development at an early age would far outstrip the level present in current girls. And in that, I sure won't cuss her for marrying young.
