He had but little time now to shovel snow; but his father told him to be sure and come home directly from school, in the afternoon, and not to play or do anything else until the sidewalk was cleared off.
Oscar accordingly went home after school, and resumed his work.

He found that the snow was trodden into such a solid icy mass, that an axe was necessary to cut it up in some places.

He was not the boy to hurt himself with hard labor, and although he kept his shovel at work in a leisurely way, he did not accomplish much, except the removal of a little snow that had not got trodden down.

Wearied at length with his feeble and fruitless efforts, he returned into the house, saying to his mother: "There, I can't get the snow off the sidewalk, and it's of no use to try.

It's trodden down just as hard as ice.