I'm a big Franklin fan myself. The story about the whistle is in his autobiography, but but not the following thoughts. For more complete stories, you have to go into the complete works. Ben was full of such analogies, and had a particular felicity of expression which he used carefully, for his purposes. Some old adages, known before Ben's time, were given a new twist when he wrote them in his own style: Fish and guests stink after three days.......
Margarita