In one judicial district, comprising eight courts of New York State, the Supreme Court has required that the wife of the petitioner appear in court with the petitioner at the time of the final hearing. In other places the question has been considered and various steps taken. The reports show that some judges have required a rather complete knowledge of our language and form of government. Some of the tests have been such as merely to show that the wife could speak English, knew the name of the President and the number of years of his term of office, and other elementary details. Continuances of cases have occurred where dense ignorance of the English language is demonstrated by simple questions, such as, “Where do you live?” and, “How many children have you?” Upon failure to comprehend these questions the conferring of citizenship has been deferred to a later period. Of course, in considering the question of the appearance of the wife some difficulties have been encountered. In numbers of cases sickness of either the wife or the children, domestic duties at the hour of the hearing, the necessity for bringing small children into court or leaving them in the custody of others, represent some of the difficulties to the easy observance of this requirement of the courts. In the opinion of one of the judges it is well to have the women appear in court, if for no other reason than that it takes them out of their homes and gives them some idea of what our government in actual operation means. After their experiences under these circumstances, even though it be accompanied by some sense of nervousness, the consensus of opinion appears to be that such a requirement is not only wholesome in its effect, but quite necessary. OBSTACLES OF DISTANCE AND EXPENSE The Director of Citizenship does not mention one of the most serious difficulties in the way of a general practice of this kind, operating in sparsely settled districts; that is, the matter of expense. When a man has to transport himself and his two witnesses anywhere from twenty to two hundred miles, pay not only their cost of transportation, but usually their wages for time lost, to say nothing of his own loss of wages or time, or anything paid as extra compensation to the witnesses, and this _twice within the space of some ninety days_, the necessity of adding the cost of taking also his wife becomes serious if not prohibitive. And in most cases, in city or country alike, a young mother is so tied down by the routine of domestic duties, care of infants, etc., that a considerable absence from home is flatly impossible. If, in addition to this, she has no interest in the matter, or is frankly hostile, it is likely to mean that she will not go to court, and her husband’s petition may be denied for “want of prosecution.”