Philip Cone Fletcher (1870 - 1931) was the presiding elder of the San Antonio district of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.[1]
He received wide notice for advising girls and young women to use beauty aids if they wanted to. He also suggested that "courting places" be set aside for men and women to become acquainted with each other. In St. Louis, Missouri, these stances resulted in the revocation of an invitation to take over the pastorate of a church, so he went to Texas, where he remained.
Positions edit
Love and marriage edit
Between 1902 and 1915, Fletcher gave sermons on "Love, Courtship and Marriage"[2][3] and "Vital Lessons in Love."[4][5] In his obituary, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recalled that these sermons, as well as his advice about cosmetics for women, caused "much discussion."[6]
Consequences edit
Fletcher, who was ministering to the First Methodist Church of St. Louis, in 1909 was nominated to take the pulpit at Scruggs Memorial Church. Parishioners of the latter church however, sent telegrams of objection to the appointment, and the appointment was not made. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the minister was deemed objectionable:
(1) because he used young women as ushers in his church; (2) because he encouraged courtship among young people in his church; (3) because he preached on "Love, Courtship and Marriage."[7]
'Cozy corners' and 'spooning' edit
He told a Chicago audience in 1926 that he had not changed his mind over the years.
Courtship is a very necessary thing. It can't be done in stuffy parlors in boarding houses. Automobiles with their freedom from restraint offers too much in the way of temptation. I approve of Chicago officials allowing spooning on park benches, because spooning is an old fashioned necessity, which leads to marriage.[8]
'Painting' controversy edit
In 1908, he preached in a St. Louis, Missouri, sermon that women had his "consent" to use "artificial beautifiers" such as "the powder puff, the paint brush and the brow pencil."[9][10]
He said in a lecture:
If I were a young woman, I would try to be winsome. Beauty is a duty. Young women ought to strive to appear to the best advantage, mentally, physically and morally. It is all right to supplement the works of God. To be ugly is an age like this is but little short of a sin against God and self."[9][11][12][13][14][15]
One California newspaper, though, reported that "This bouquet of advice, direct and implied, to young girls, which has emanated from various sources during the last twenty-four hours, is not all given the O.K. label by Mrs. P.J. O'Keeffe, member of the Chicago Board of Education."[16]
Fletcher said later he meant that "a woman owed it to herself to make the most of her looks. According to some people, I advised every woman to lay on powder and paint with a towel. I would never think of giving such advice, of course." [17][18]
The press edit
In a St. Louis lecture on the press, Fletcher decried "yellow journalism," but praised the "reputable press" as "one of the mightiest forces [for good] in our civilization."[19]
Women's rights edit
In a public address in Little Rock, Fletcher said he was in favor of the General Conference of the Methodist Church extending to women all the rights of the laity on an equal footing with men.[20]
He later urged that women be granted equal suffrage with men.[21]
Evolution edit
Cone stated that he did not believe that humankind "descended from a monkey." He also declared that there is "no conflict between the Bible and true science."[22]
Biography edit
Fletcher was born on February 9, 1870, in Shenandoah, Virginia, the son of Lemuel and Lou Ellen (or Lucy Eleanor Smith) Fletcher.[23]
He received a doctor of divinity degree from Hendrix College in 1915.[23]
In 1900, Fletcher was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Yellville, Arkansas.[24] He also pastored in Fayetteville, Arkansas.[9]
He had earlier been grand prelate of the Knights Templar of Texas[1] and was pastor of the Laurel Heights Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas, whence he came after an eight-year pastorate in Little Rock, Arkansas.[25][26]
Fletcher, a prominent Mason, died of pneumonia in his San Antonio home on February 20 or 21, 1931. He was survived by his wife, the former Emmie A. Jackson, and a sister, Mrs. Robert E. Lee. A brother, William Smith Fletcher, predeceased him.[1][23] [25][27]
Description edit
After an interview, reporter-artist Marguerite Martyn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said that Fletcher was
of the poetic type, with those romantic, prematurely gray flowing locks. He has the warm-hearted, spontaneous manner of the traditional Southerner[,] and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to be discussing with him for publication this subject [romance] usually too intimate to be of general concern.[28]
Legacy edit
Mrs. George L. Peyton bequeathed $10,000 to Southern Methodist University for a lectureship endowment on preaching as a memorial to Fletcher.[29]
Publications edit
- The Story of My Heart, The Alamo Press, 1929.[30]
References edit
- ^ a b c Associated Press, "Methodist Elder Dies at Santone," Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News, February 22, 1931, image 7
- ^ "Love, Courtship and Marriage," Fort Smith (Arkansas) Times, September 14, 1902, image 2
- ^ "Local Laconics," Evening Sentinel, Santa Cruz, California, January 5, 1904, image 3
- ^ "Instructions to Courting Couples," Buffalo (New York) Commercial, November 30, 1908, image 2
- ^ "Lakeside Lyceum Course Comes to Close Tonight," Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Daily Graphic, July 15, 1915, image 3
- ^ "Dr. Philip C. Fletcher Dies; Former Pastor in St. Louis," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 22, 1931, image 64
- ^ "Church Folk Bar Pastor for Views on Love," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 20, 1909, image 6
- ^ "Pastor Endorses, 'Spooning Corners,'" Palladium Item, Richmond, Indiana, August 23, 1926, image 1
- ^ a b c ""Young Women May Use Powder Puffs," Arkansas Democrat, Little Rock, December 17, image 2
- ^ "Says Beauty Is a Duty," Freeport (Illinois) Standard, December 18, 1908, image 7
- ^ Associated Press, "To Remain Ugly in This Age Is a Sin, Says Minister," Pensacola (Florida) Journal, December 18, 1908, image 1
- ^ "Says Beauty Is a Duty," St. Joseph (Michigan) Daily Press, December 18, 1908, image 7
- ^ "Favors Powder and Paint," The Town Talk, Alexandria, Virginia, image 3
- ^ "Pastor Says It Is All Right," The Weekly Herald (Wetumpka, Alabama), December 24, image 2
- ^ "Pastor Tells Girls to Paint," Macon (Missouri) Times-Democrat, December 31, 1908, image 6
- ^ "Beauty as Duty Is Given a Slap," Oakland (California) Tribune, December 28, 1908, image 8
- ^ Estelle Klander, "Tale of Two Parrots," Evening Star, Washington, D.C., February 7, 1909, image 47
- ^ "Anecdotes and a Story or Two," Detroit Free Press, February 7, 1909, image 40
- ^ St. Louis Times, reprinted in "Press Vanquishes Evil, Says Pastor," Chillicothe (Georgia) Constitution-Tribune, August 2, 1909, image 6
- ^ "Give Women Laity Rights," Arkansas Democrat, March 21, 1910, image 5
- ^ "Votes for Women Pastor's Theme," Daily Arkansas Gazette, April 22, 1912, image 12
- ^ "Pastor Says Darwin Spiritually Atrophied," Arkansas Democrat, April 3, 1922, image 5
- ^ a b c Ancestry.com
- ^ "Burned to Death," The Mountain Echo, June 22, 1900, image 2
- ^ a b United Press, "Rev. Fletcher Dies," The Marshall (Texas) News-Messenger, February 22, 1931, image 13
- ^ "New Pastor to Arrive About Friday," Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, January 6, 1910, image 7
- ^ "Methodist Elder at San Antonio Succumbs Today," The (Bryan, Texas) Eagle, February 21, 1931, image 1
- ^ Marguerite Martyn, 'Courting Places' for Lonelies Is Need of City, Declares Poetic Pastor," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 22, 1909, image 13
- ^ "SMU Given Two Sizeable Bequests," Austin American-Statesman, February 11, 1944, image 2
- ^ W.P. King, "Things New and Old About the Bible," Atlanta Constitution, November 24, 1929, image 29
Further reading edit
- Silas Wesley Rogers, The Radiant Philip Cone Fletcher (book)