The uselessly turning windmill

The Inn windmill is a broken, persistently turning fixture behind The Inn / Red Mill in Beech. Its useless motion and Johnny Gordon's failed attempt to stop it make it a recurring image of effort that cannot master its circumstances; later, the shed beneath it becomes part of Peter Gordon's retreat into study and practical work.

Setting and Operation

The windmill stands atop a shed attached to The Inn / Red Mill, where the wind blows in both summer and winter. Its ratchet and chain, which should pull the fin and turn the mill's face out of the wind, broke before the Gordons moved in. The blades therefore keep turning, while the shaft's eccentric moves slowly up and down without powering anything. The mechanism does no work, and its repeated squeaking makes sleep difficult for the town's occasional transients.

Johnny Gordon's Attempt to Stop It

After a sharp complaint about the noise, Johnny climbs a shaky ladder against the shed to inspect the windmill and try to stop it. A sudden shift in the wind sends the blades against him, tearing his coat and cutting his shoulder. He leaves the mill alone afterward. The attempt gives the structure a history of resistance and retreat: Johnny tries to impose a practical solution, but the machine's movement turns the effort back upon him. The account later underscores that he had not mastered it; the windmill had already turned against him before Peter was born.

The Shed and Peter's Refuge

The shed does not remain merely the setting for the useless machine. It is made comfortable by a small wood stove, and Peter builds shelves there for Johnny's medical books. The room also holds Peter's stuffed gophers and rabbits, beakers, retorts, and other chemical equipment. At the table, he withdraws from the taunts and jibes he faces at school and concentrates on his own work. The contrast is pointed: above him, the windmill repeats motion without producing anything; below, Peter uses a private space and collected materials for study and experiment.

Purpose, Labor, and Motif

Elsewhere on the Burbank ranch, work is organized around maintenance and output. Phil Burbank oversees haying, inspects and repairs mowing machines and other equipment, arranges irrigation, and sets the start of the season after the Fourth of July. The mowing crews' work is both productive and dangerous: they handle difficult horses, sharpen their cutter bars, and receive extra pay and privileges for the risks and skill involved. Against this practical landscape, the windmill's broken connection between motion and work becomes especially legible. It turns, but is attached to nothing and accomplishes nothing. Its persistence also complicates any simple celebration of mastery: Johnny's intervention fails, while the shed's later usefulness comes not from repairing the windmill but from Peter making a working place beneath it.