Books with author James J. Smith

This small volume contains truth-God's truth. Truth in a variety of forms. Truth clothed in simple language. Truth illustrated by plain figures. Truth for the head, and truth for the heart. Truth that has been tasted, handled, and felt by the writer; and is now affectionately commended to the reader. Reader, before you turn over the pages of this book, look up and ask God for a blessing. No book will yield you spiritual profit without it. Ask the Holy Spirit to accompany what you read with his own power, savor and unction; and if your prayer is answered, you will bless God that you ever saw it. Beseech the Lord, not only to bless it to you-but to render it useful to others: to multitudes of your fellow men. In vain we write, or read, without the power of the Holy Spirit; but if favored with that, the meanest instrument is efficient-and this little book will be successful. When you have read the book-then lend it! If you can afford it, purchase a few copies to distribute among your relatives, friends, acquaintances, or neighbors. Follow the gift of every copy with much prayer, and when you pray for the book, ask the Lord in mercy to bless the author. James Smith

Surveyor, fur-trader and explorer, David Thompson was the first European to descend the Columbia River from its source to its mouth. A partner in the North West Company, Thompson explored western Canada exhaustively, and the maps he produced became the basis for many future maps of the region. Thompson first came to Canada in 1784 as a clerk for the Hudson's Bay Company. He spent several years gaining knowledge of the fur trade, making extensive expeditions and learning the ways of the aboriginal peoples. After learning the use of sextant, chronometer, telescope, compass and nautical almanac, surveying became his primary interest. He explored new territory whenever possible, keeping detailed journals of his bearings and weather conditions, and charted all of his journeys.

It's September, the first week of school at John Muir Junior High School, and Paolo has a lot on his mind. He's thinking about finding a place of his own with his brother Georgie and his cousin Billy, running away part-time -- which means they are running away, but still come back home to eat and sleep and read the paper. He's thinking about the upcoming Halloween/All Saints' Day/Mexican Day of the Dead/Chinese Lantern Night carnival, and what booth he, Georgie, and Billy would like to man. He's thinking about Communism and the atom bomb, just like everyone else in Orange Grove, California, in 1951. But most of all, he's thinking about Billy and Veronica, a Chinese girl in his class, who have both become victims of some ofthe community's ignorant but deep-seated ideas about who should be hanging out with whom. And it's this last thought that Paolo, even with Georgie and Billy's help, can't quite figure out. Suddenly, the boys have a real reason to be running away, and maybe not just part-time.

The first ever, first-person story of America's private, paramilitary contractors at work around the world-from a man who performed these missions himself and has decades of stories to tell. This is a fascinating tale-and potentially the first-to describe the work of American contractors, men who run highly dangerous missions deep inside foreign countries on the brink of war. It will lift the veil and detail the ultimate danger and risk of paramilitary operations (both officially government-sanctioned and not) and show us in very intimate terms exactly what private soldiers do when the government can't act or take public responsibility. GRAY WORK combines covert military intelligence with boots-on-the-ground realism, following Jamie Smith through his CIA training and work as a spy in the State Department, to his co-founding of Blackwater following 9/11, to his decision to leave that company. As the founder and director of Blackwater Security, Smith's initial vision has undeniably shaped and transformed a decade of war. He argues that this gray area-and its warriors who occupy the controversial space between public and private-has become an indispensable element of the modern battlefield.

Cape Breton Tales by Harry James SmithSummer comes late along the Cape Breton shore; and even while it stays there is something a little diffident and ticklish about it, as if each clear warm day might perhaps be the last. Though by early June the fields are in their first emerald, there are no flowers yet. The little convent girls who carry the banners at the head of the Corpus Christi procession at Arichat wear wreaths of artificial lilies of the valley and marguerites over their white veils, and often enough their teeth chatter with cold before the completion of the long march—out from the church portals westward by the populous street, then up through the steep open fields to the old Calvary on top of the hill, then back to the church along the grass-grown upper road, far above the roofs, in full view of the wide bay.Despite some discomforts, the procession is a very great event; every house along the route is decked out with bunting or flags or a bright home-made carpet, hung from a window. Pots of tall geraniums in scarlet bloom have been set out on the steps; and numbers of little evergreen trees, or birches newly in leaf, have been brought in from the country and bound to the fences. Along the roadside are gathered all the Acadians from the neighboring parishes, devoutly gay, enchanted with the pious spectacle. The choir, following after the richly canopied Sacrament and swinging censers, are chanting psalms of benediction and thanksgiving; banners and flags and veils flutter in the wind; the harbor, ice-bound so many months, is flecked with dancing white-caps and purple shadows: surely summer cannot be far off."When once the ice has done passing down there," they say—"which may happen any time now—you will see! Perhaps all in a day the change will come. The fog that creeps in so cold at night—it will all be sucked up; the sky will be clear as glass down to the very edge of the water. Ah, the fine season it will be!"That is the way summer arrives on the Acadian shore: everything bursting pell-mell into bloom; daisies and buttercups and August flowers rioting in the fields, lilacs and roses shedding their fragrance in sheltered gardens; and over all the world a drench of unspeakable sunlight.You could never forget your first sight of Arichat if you entered its narrow harbor at this divine moment. Steep, low hills, destitute of trees, set a singularly definite sky-line just behind; and the town runs—dawdles, rather—in a thin, wavering band for some miles sheer on the edge of the water. Eight or ten wharves, some of them fallen into dilapidation, jut out at intervals from clumps of weatherbeaten storehouses; and a few small vessels, it may be, are lying up alongside or anchored idly off shore. Only the occasional sound of a creaking block or of a wagon rattling by on the hard roadway breaks the silence.

Jordan is a young girl who’s not had an easy life so far. Every night she’s haunted by nightmares; everyday by half-forgotten memories. So what’s a girl to do when she finds out that the secrets of her past may be the only way to save the future?Sweet Melody- Jordan has finally made it to her senior year in high school. If she’s a few years early, then hey, all the better. She thought bullies were going to be her main problem again this year but when two new students show up she quickly learns they will be harder to handle than the bullies. With her school life turning upside down the only peace Jordan is able to find is at home.…That is until the unthinkable happens. When even that fragile peace is threatened, Jordan finds herself in a race against time to figure out what exactly is going on and whom she can trust. With danger lurking behind every corner, can she even figure out how to trust again in time?

No one likes homework. But tricking your future self into doing all your homework for you isn't foolproof. In The Homework That Time Forgot, a young alien named Glort uses his genius to make a science fair project that steals homework from his future self--and causes a paradox! With a second, angry Glort in his universe--a Glort who takes revenge by stealing the project--can he still beat his rival at the science fair, thwart the bully who wants to take credit for his work, and send that angry Glort home? Ages 9-12Also by J. Smith:Ahoy! Monster Ahead

In 1999, I decided to something special for our annual Christmas card since it would be the last one for the 20th Century for us. This poem and art, which I created, became that year's Christmas card. I will be donating ALL proceeds from the sale of this book to Roswell Park Women's and Children's Hospital in Buffalo, New York, and hopefully will be ordering a case of hardcover versions, once it is up on Amazon for sale in both formats, to donate to the gift shop at that hospital for sale there. I hope you will like this book, and I have set it as available for sharing if you would like to do so. Thank you for buying this book, and yes, there is something to love about every season. Sometimes you just have to think a bit harder to find it. May all your wishes for someone you love come true.