She had been a good and true wife, and mother, and he felt her death all the more keenly because of being in very poor health himself at the time. His leg, which was never free from pain, and always discharging, had been so much worse for some time that he could scarcely stand, and yet he felt compelled to assist in the work of the household, as well as to attend to his duties in the ward. Soon after the death of his wife, his youngest child, Martha, who was then four years old, in accidentally falling, plunged her arm into a pot of boiling brine which had just been lifted from the stove, and as she had a woolen dress on, which held the heat, her arm was practically cooked to the bone. From the top of her shoulder to her finger tips was like a piece of raw beef, and her father was the only one she would allow to wait upon her. As she could not lie in bed, she was kept seated in a rocking chair, and Thomas watched and waited upon her devotedly both night and day for three months. When he would dress her arm her agony would be so intense that she would tear the hair out of her head by the handful. It was only by the power of God that her life was saved and the use of her arm spared. When she did finally recover, her injured arm was just as good as the other. The Temple in St. George had been completed by that time, and Thomas was strongly reminded of his father's dying injunction to "never forget the dead." He was so strongly impressed with the fact that it was his duty to go to St. George and have the work done for all of his ancestors whose names he had, that he talked the matter over with his neighbor, Newton Tuttle, who became so enthusiastic on the subject that he proffered to go to St. George with him, and to furnish the team to convey them on the trip. Though impelled by the Spirit to go to the Temple, he still had doubts as to whether he would be allowed to engage in ordinance work therein, because of having the running sores on his leg. He accordingly conferred with Bishop Anson Call on the subject, but the Bishop was unable to answer his query. Thomas then appealed to the Lord in prayer to know whether it was His will that he should go, and whether the dead knew what was being done on earth in their behalf. He had perfect confidence that the Lord would hear and grant his wish, as He had heard and answered his prayers many times in the past. Directly afterward he had a dream in which he thought he was traveling from the north to the south, and that his wife's sister, Sarah, was with him. They were walking along the road, and he was talking to her of the things of the Gospel. They came to a very large field of wheat--the finest he had ever seen. He saw a number of men at work harvesting, as the wheat was ripe. Other men were seen lounging in the shade, and neglecting the crop, which seemed to be in danger of being wasted.