I was born in 1950 & I was raised in western Oklahoma. Yes, that makes me 60 now.
anyway, our country school would let out for 2 weeks just before Christmas time so the kids could help their families get the cotton crop in. We pulled a cotton sack along the row and when we got 200 pounds in the sack we would get $2. I was knee high to a grasshopper when I started working in the cotton fields, not sure of my age. In the summer we had to hoe the cotton fields to remove the weeds. I am not sure which was worse, pulling or chopping.
When I turned 14 I got a real job as a carhop. I think I made 60 cents per hour.