I was lately in a grove where a number of large sycamores were
shedding their bark; at least three layers of the bark showed
plainly, the coarse outer bark brown, but this shed in large
spots or blotches, exposing the white inner bark, so well known
in this great tree; but this also was peeling up, and falling
here and there, and showing the clear, green inmost bark of the
tree; the outer layers ripening, drying, dying, and falling off,
but the inmost bark strengthening and renewing itself day by day.
But I was imprest with the fresh, wholesome look of these
sycamores. Many trees of that name seem dying; not so those
where the decaying outer bark was loosening and dropping, while
the fresh young inner bark was coming out to take its place. I
never saw healthier trees. They certainly were not hide-bound.
I believe the quick dropping of the old bark gave the vigorous
inner bark a chance to come out and strengthen, just as we
know trials and afflictions often bring out the inner life in
beauty and strength.--FRANKLIN NOBLE, “Sermons in
Illustration.”
(1626)
=Inner Strength=--See REPUTATION AND CHARACTER.