event
Calico ball (Yalta)
the calico ball
also: ситцевый бал, sitsevy bal
A charity fancy-dress ball held in Yalta -- guests were evidently expected to wear calico (cheap cotton print) rather than finery -- that Shavrova had a hand in organizing or attending and that lost 1500 rubles rather than raising money for its charitable purpose; Chekhov, teased by Shavrova for seeming duller than in their Yalta days, needles her back about the ball's failure while insisting the ball and the resort are not the same thing.
Reading notes
- To Ye. M. Shavrova, 11 January 1891. Petersburg. §9 the calico ball
A charity fancy-dress ball held in Yalta -- "calico" (ситцевый) marking the dress code as deliberately cheap cotton print rather than finery -- that Shavrova had evidently helped organize or attend and that lost 1500 rubles instead of raising money. Chekhov, responding to her suggestion that he seemed changed since their Yalta days, insists his dullness at the ball says nothing about Yalta itself, and needles her back over the loss.