At the same time not to be forgotten, in the narration of the extension of the means of education to the deaf of the country, is the real debt to private action. It was private initiative that often brought the schools into being, and it was private solicitude that often won their final endorsement and adoption by the state. In not a few places there were citizens found who were willing to give of their substance to forward the new work.[233] For some of the schools money was not only subscribed, but it came also from the proceeds of fairs and concerts, and for a few also from lectures, debates, exhibits of pictures, and similar affairs; while exhibitions of the pupils themselves from the schools seldom failed to draw a generous offering.[234] Indeed, many were glad of the opportunity to lend a hand, and contributions were tendered not only by various individuals, but also by different societies and organizations[235]--churches probably among the latter proving the most ready givers, with aid, in addition, at time from newspapers, and now and then from a school or college. In some cases funds were collected by citizens with which to purchase a site, and sometimes the land required was given by the cities themselves. Indirect aid was extended as well of not a few kinds; and in the early schools there was seldom great difficulty in securing reduced transportation on railroads and steamboats.[236] However, except in a few instances, private assistance in the aggregate did not prove great: as a rule in most schools it was limited, usually sufficing only to tide them over their nascent stage, and in large part ceasing upon their full establishment. From then on the maintenance was assumed practically entirely as a public charge, the legislatures of the several states undertaking themselves to provide for the schools. In a few cases, however, there was public aid of another sort. In several schools there were allowances for a longer or shorter period from municipal funds, as in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, and from county, as in North Carolina and Utah.[237] But much the most important assistance of this character came from the national government; and while only a few schools were favored by its action, the benefactions to those were hardly less than munificent. For the benefit of the Connecticut and Kentucky schools early in their careers Congress granted great areas of the public domain; and later, on the admission of half a dozen or so states in the West into the Union, set apart extensive tracts for the schools to be established in them.[238]