Library books delivered on horseback

By 1933, in the depth of the Great Depression, unemployment in Appalachia reached 40% and many towns had nothing to read, so the Works Progress Administration created the Pack Horse Library -- women hired by Uncle Sam to saddle up at dawn and ride through snow and muddy creeks to deliver reading material to isolated mountain communities in Kentucky.

Local schools helped cover the costs, and books, magazines and newspapers were all donated. The book women rode 100 to 120 miles per week on their own horses or mules. They had designated routes, regardless of the weather. If the destination was too far to reach on horseback, they walked the final miles. All the book women were recruited locally, so they would be familiar faces to otherwise distrustful mountain folk.  By the end of 1938, there were 274 librarians riding in 29 counties. In total, the program employed nearly 1,000 riding librarians.

Teens run village in India

Today's crumb comes from a reader in Indiana. It concerns the remote village of Thennamadevi in the state of Tamil Nadu, in India. The adult men in the village are racked by alcoholism. Most participate in daily drinking sessions -- drinking themselves to death. So far, about 90 women and families have been widowed. But in the past six months, something has changed for the better. The teenage daughters of the drunken men took over the running of the town.

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A self-titled "Young Girls Club" has fixed the street lights, completed a health audit among residents, and insured that mobile clinics visit their village. Aid agencies and politicians across the state have taken notice. At a recent meeting, the club debated a petition urging better transport links, since no busses reach their village. After each debate there is a show of hands. Only when consensus is reached do the teens move on to the next issue. The president of the club is 16-year-old Says Sowmya. She explains, "We are tying to transform our village by this process. We are empowered to be leaders."

Halloween costumes with a message

In 2016, best friends Yasmin Idris and Casey Pearlman of California were talking about what their religions have in common. Yasmin is Muslim. Casey is Jewish. According to Casey's mom, Catherine Pearlman, "They don't feel different to each other. They feel like eighth-grade girls." Casey's dad Jeff coined a new word to describe the best buddies -- Juslim.

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The new word stuck. For Halloween last year, the girls made special super-hero costumes and became The Juslims, an intolerance-fighting super-hero team. Jeff shared this photo of the girls online, and it went viral overnight. Reactions to the photo have been "absolutely amazing and mind-blowing," Catherine said, gaining attention from places like Egypt and the U.K. and even landing a coveted retweet from author J.K. Rowling. And what is their super-power? It's watching each other's backs. "We're a super team," said Yasmin, "like, friends forever."

Children naturally love nature

Elena Karneeva is a celebrated Russian photographer, based in Moscow, who is known to create magical and mesmerizing photo series. She uses no computer trickery in her photos but plans out every shot carefully. 

In this beautiful photo, we see the link between child and animal as instinctual friendship, immediate and simple. This photo brings the inner beauty of innocence into view.

It's alright to say "I love you"

Today's crumb is a poem by Amos Yoder, an Amish educator from Indiana. It appeared in a magazine called School Echoes, supporting education in one-room Amish school houses.

It's alright to say, "I love you!"

To someone every day,

To obey our Lord's commandment

In a real and vital way.

The world is filled with sorrows

That sometimes touch us all,

And to know that we are loved

Lifts us when we fall.

The heart can be a lonely place

When no one comes to call

But when someone says, "I love you!"

We feel we're ten feet tall.

Three little words can mean so much

And they're not hard to say.

It's alright to say, "I love you!"

To someone every day.

Patient sheds tears of joy at dental office

Kenny Wilstead is a dentist in Marshall, Texas. Kyleigha Scott recently went to his office to have wisdom tooth removed, but when he inspected her mouth, he asked why her front tooth was do damaged. It was chipped and yellowed, and she explained it happened when her abusive ex-boyfriend head-butted her two years ago. She told Dr. Wilstead she planned on fixing it once she got her money from her tax return.

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But Dr. Wilstead would have none of it. "No," he said, "we're gonna' fix that tooth right now, for no charge." The procedure only took about ten minutes, but when he gave her a mirror, Kyleigha burst into tears of gratitude. "It looks amazing," she said tearfully. Why did Dr. Wilstead do this? In his words, "To all those who have struggled, she is an awesome example of someone determined to rise above her past and use it to reinvent her future."

Einstein reveals secret of a happy life

The year was 1922. German-born physicist Albert Einstein learned he was about to receive the Nobel Peace Prize while he was on a lecture tour in Japan. He was staying at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo when a Japanese courier delivered a message to his room. Apparently Einstein had no small change available to tip the courier, so he wrote him a note instead.

According to a relative of the courier, Einstein told him, "Maybe if you're lucky this note will become more valuable than just a regular tip." On Imperial Hotel stationary, Einstein wrote in German, "A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest." It is not possible to determine if the note was a reflection on Einstein's own musings on his growing fame," says Roni Grosz, the archivist in charge of the world's largest Einstein collection, at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.