Let’s put that sentence back together.
On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb.
Let’s rewrite the entire sentence a few times from scratch.
In that grim house the wallpaper was stained with a black fungus, and the musty air made me gasp as if choking.
In that miserable classroom the floor was crusted with scabs of gum, and the ticking clock grated my nerves to the very extremity of their feeling.
Beside that wretched stream the ground was thick with congealed waste, and the smell made my stomach turn and clench deep inside my belly.
