Thomas obtained work at a dairy, and by his diligence soon worked his way up to the position of foreman. In consequence of the prevalence of cholera and the frequent changes in the force of employees as a result, he was under the necessity of making occasional trips around with the milk wagons to keep familiar with the routes and see that the drivers were doing their duty. One morning while thus engaged he was met on the street by his father, who was greatly agitated, and who asked him to hurry home with him, as his mother was dying. Thomas hastened to her bedside, ready and anxious to do anything in his power to save her life. As he entered the room she turned her eyes upon him and said faintly: "Tom, be a good lad to your father!" These were her last words. Her life was ebbing fast away. She soon lapsed into unconsciousness, and in a very short time her heart ceased to beat. The mother had not been long dead when Thomas was reminded of the threat made by the evil one, that he would get her next time, and also of that against his own life. About one year had elapsed since the threat was uttered, and he had now (on the 18th of August 1851) partially executed it. After the burial of his mother Thomas resumed his work at the dairy, and his sister Elizabeth, who had been out at service, returned home and kept house for her father. About the first of the year 1852 Thomas was taken suddenly ill with bilious fever, and brought home for treatment. The father, very much against the wish of Thomas, sent for a doctor, who attended him for five or six weeks without any sign of improvement; in fact, he continued to grow worse. The father became greatly alarmed and discouraged, lest he also should die. Finally Thomas determined to have his own way in the matter of remedies, and the next time the doctor called he told him he had decided to take no more of his medicine, and to dispense with his services. He asked his father to throw away all of the doctor's medicine that he had, and to get him a bottle of olive oil, and he would take that and trust in the Lord for the result. He took about half of the bottle of oil, which caused nausea, and he really felt for awhile as if he was dying, but after vomiting very freely, and thus relieving his system of a good deal of the poison which had accumulated therein, he felt better, and from that time improved.