A hundred years ago, April 19, 1917, it was “Wake Up America Day,” an event designed to boost recruiting for the First World War.
The days main event was a parade in New York City. In the photo here, Abraham Lincoln impersonator Benjamin Chapin is shown riding in an antique coach. He is followed by Boy Scouts bearing illuminated signs with the points of the Scout Law, along with the words, “We are coming, Father Abraham, thousands strong.”