"Southern Belles" at Woman's Club
FRANKLY SCARLETT....

News Herald Photo by Kathryn Martinez Vivian Patton (at left) and Shirley Parton (at right) visit with Bobbie Hardy after Kilgore Woman's Tea 2008. Hardy was the guest speaker and presented her take on the life of author Margaret Mitchell and her famous character Scarlett O'Hara.

A little more than 71 years after it organized, Kilgore Woman's Club still meets and welcomes members and their guests for fellowship and study.

Each year a new topic is studied and this year is no different. The women have gathered many times to discuss "Southern Belles."

This week's southern belle was Scarlett O'Hara. Bobbie Hardy, proprietor of Scarlett O'Hardy's Bed and Breakfast and curator of Scarlett O'Hardy's Gone With the Wind Museum, spoke as Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind author, recounting the events that brought forth her epic tale of the old south.

Hardy, speaking as Mitchell, compared the life of Mitchell with the fictional life of her character Scarlett, right down to mannerisms and husbands.

Gone With the Wind has been in print continuously, for 72 years and is said to be the most widely read book after The Bible.

"Gone With the Wind has an undeniable appeal to the very basics of nature," Hardy said.

The bed and breakfast and museum are located in Jefferson. In these halls one can find antiques from the old south and the world's largest private collection of Gone With the Wind memorabilia. More information is available at www.scarlettohardy. com.