I hadn't thought of it until you mentioned it but I agree. It just seems like people didn't clown around for the camera like that around the turn of the century. Things must have been much more serious back then.
This may be the second time in a couple of weeks that the undivided postcard back was misleading as to the date. It seems some postcard manufacturers were very rebellious about the divider line well after the time the edict was handed down from the postal service.