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unironically it was called the telegraph system. "Online dating" consisted of sending your long distance sweety a note by telegraph. Michigan J Frog sung a song on one of the Merry Melodies (Bugs Bunny) cartoons from the late 1800s that was about this. The lyrics start "Hello my darling, hello my honey hello my ragtime gal..." Later you here the line "send me a kiss by wire." Truly pornographic for the time.