[Tax-chick]

Laura's husband was ten years older, iirc, and she was 17 or so when they got married. Nowadays he'd be considered a pedophile and locked up. In those days, they were both responsible adults - able to decide to get married, not sneaking around screwing - based on their demonstrated capacity to to make an adult contribution to society.

[kabumpo]

She was in fact 15, he was 25 - she changed the age to 17 in the Little House book - and she was a responsible adult because she was allowed, naturally, to become one. Women are inherently ready to get married at that age - It is our current society that is wrong for infantilizing women