Thinking over the losses which England has had forced upon her by steam and the ingenuity of the engineer， one is disposed to count the decay of the windmill among the first. Perhaps in the matter of pure picture squeness the most serious thing that ever happened to England was the discovery of galvanized iron roofing； but， after all， there was never anything but quiet and rich and comfortable beauty about red roofs， whereas the living windmill is not only beautiful but romantic too： a willing， man-serving creature， yoked to the elements， a whirling monster， often a thing of terror. No one can stand very near the crashing sweeps of a windmill in half a gale without a tightening of the heart a feeling comparable to that which comes from watching the waves break over a wall in a storm. And to be within the mill at such a time is to know something of sound’s very sources； it is the cave of noise itself. No doubt there are dens of hammering energy which are more shattering， but the noise of a windmill is largely natural， the product of wood striving with the good sou’ wester； it fills the ears rather than assaults them. The effect， moreover， is by no means lessened by the absence of the wind itself and the silent nonchalance of the miller and his man， who move about in the midst of this appalling racket with the quiet efficiency of vergers.
In my mill， of course， there is no such uproar； nothing but the occasional shaking of the cross-pieces of the idle sails. Everything is still； and the pity of it is that everything is in almost perfect order for the day’s work. The mill one day some score years ago was full of life； the next， and ever after， mute and lifeless， like a stream frozen in a night or the palace in Tennyson’s ballad of the “Sleeping Beauty.” There is no decay merely inanition. One or two of the apple-wood cogs have been broken from the great wheel； a few floor planks have been rotted； but that is all. A week’ s overhauling would put everything right. But it will never come， and the cheerful winds that once were to drive a thousand English mills so happily now bustle over the Channel in vain.