The characteristic of the Dutch mill is, however, that of a thatch covering, both on sides and top, on the usual size common mill—something not found in any other country. It is said of them that there is also a code worked out—sort of a wigwag or semaphore system—so that by the position of the vanes as left when shutting down, the long-distance observer can read whether a carpenter is needed or a baby has been born, etc., etc. Certain it is that the mills make fine elevations for flag-flying on holiday occasions, for then the staunch colors of Holland will be found on the flagpoles atop the most of them. In noting the Dutch mills, one cannot overlook—nor wants to—the picturesque little “petmolens” or “jaskers”—diminutive post pumping mills, for small fields only—that, with long, slender vanes, seen through the haze or afar, almost suggest one of the old rocs from Sinbad the Sailor, caught in the act of alighting.
England, while numerically far inferior to Holland, is yet far in advance from the viewpoint of the fullest engineering development of this world’s motor, as may be gathered from what has been said above as to the automatic shutters, tail vanes, etc. The largest, the most varied and the most efficient are found there. Many fine examples of these mills can be seen, a few of which are still in operation. In the south of England there are plenty of old wood structures of all forms—of which the turret is perhaps the most locally characteristic. This is a huge, or at least large size, post mill, often for some fine estate, with the base enclosed with a circular low or one-story building, used for storage, so that the external effect suggests a turret. In central England a good number of the tall brick tower mills yet stand.
For picturesqueness, however, no country surpasses old France. There the mills are small; the huge, towering structure of the Dutch and English is unknown. But one can find many of great antiquity, great variety of form and of great charm. The type seems to be the true cylindrical tower—not tapering—with the cone top. In the racetrack at Longchamps, near Paris, is an instance, while on the golf course at St. Lunaire, overlooking the sea coast, on the Channel, as in innumerable other places in the northern part of France, these little sentries of the past can be found. Picturesque as they are, however, they are not yet as much so as even an older and cruder form suggesting an old blockhouse. For above the stone first story is an overhanging wood second story, as so well instanced at St. Briac. And in the Loire valley are the very unique hybrid mills with the folding boards vane arrangement, already referred to, which at Saumur date back to 1682, as doubtless do the others of that not-to-be-found-elsewhere form.
Of old post mills of the usual wood form France has plenty, of which the one on top of Montmartre, in the Moulin de la Galette grounds, is perhaps the most prominent. It is one of the two or three remaining that were part of a dozen or more that crowned that hill in the early days, as shown in several views of old Paris. What changes it has seen in its 600 years of accredited age! In its timbers are shot and balls of the revolutions of 1814 and 1871. Within are the old bells and bunks and shrines of the generations of millers who operated it, one of whom is said to have been killed and quartered and hung on the four arms of his own mill by the successful assailants. In the same premises is a dear little miniature mill, which, with diminutive stones of but 18 or 20 inches in diameter, was used for grinding spices, in place of the usual grain for bread.