The carvings on the cabin have lost lustre (faded) long before , the slates on the road have been outworn to their slipperiness by to-and-fros of generations.
Several theoretical and experimental studies in the last few years have found the real cause of ice's slipperiness — that thin layer of liquid water on the surface, it isn't really liquid water at all.
Sarah Pocket and Georgiana contended who should remain last; but Sarah was too knowing to be outdone, and ambled round Georgiana with that artful slipperiness that the latter was obliged to take precedence.