Word: tantalus
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...Rebuked by the directors, unsupported by the faculty, disliked by undergraduates, dispised by the alumni, looked upon with aversion by the teachers of Woodward, Hughes and other preparatory schools, obnoxious to a large number of the patrons of the school, his hold on the rectorship is certainly feeble. Like Tantalus, he reached out after fruit which has constantly cluded his grasp. Like the Samian king, he left a cup untasted to pursue game he failed to secure, and has verified the proverb, 'There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.'" The return of the editors...
...Commoner, as he sits down to his Spartan repast, should have his senses of smell, taste, and hearing shocked by his food and "table-talk," but, as he raises the goblet to his lips, he must see myriads of animals swimming in the water. Thus is the fate of Tantalus added to the horrors of Commons. Some of us, who are water-drinkers, must be carrying around a small internal menagerie, or, rather, aquarium, by this time. But time hardens the Commoner to almost anything, and to some it may be amusing to watch the little creatures at play...