Mr. Albert Page lived in Chenango Forks, a hamlet in Broome County of south-central New York State.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenango_Forks,_New_York

In January of 1907, Albert received a postcard from an unidentified friend.

The postcard was mailed from Binghamton, the city at the juncture of the Chenango and the Susquehanna Rivers in New York’s “Southern Tier” which borders Pennsylvania.

Chenango Forks is about nine miles north of Binghamton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton,_New_York

There is no place for a written message on the reverse of the postcard, and the sender declined to make any inscription on the face.

On the face, a merry group of young people are parading arm-in-arm through a park-like setting.

(The group appears to be passing a flagpole on the right.)

The women wear long dresses; one sports a fanciful hat, while the others have donned a bright scarf and a broad-brimmed sunhat.

One gentleman wears a suit and “boater”, while the other (partially-obscured) appears in a jacket and linen pants.

The postcard was published by the Illustrated Postal Card Company of New York and Leipzig.

The image was printed in Germany.

In the foreground, a seated man appears glum and withdrawn.

He is not attired so finely as the merry party that is passing – he seems to be trying not to look at them.

But there is an interesting detail.

The girl nearest to the seated man, who is “sharing” the gentleman to her right, has extended a hand toward the unhappy fellow.

At first, I thought that this may have been a gesture of dismissal, that she had banished him from the company.

But, I now think that it may be otherwise.

Our sad fellow may be so lost in despondency that he does not see the hand extended in welcome.

One hopes that he looks up, grasps the hand, and joins the jolly crew.