Two young country lads were bored one summer day and decided it would be fun to push over the outhouse. They snuck up like a couple of spys, pushed it over, then ran laughing into the woods. When they returned home later, their father called them over. "Did you two push over the outhouse this afternoon?" he demanded.
The older boy nodded. "I learned in school that I cannot tell a lie. Yes, father, we did push over the outhouse."
Their father whipped them and sent them to bed without supper. In the morning, he asked them, "Have you two learned your lesson?"
"Yes, father," the older boy said, looking confused. "But in school we learned that George Washington admitted to his father that he had chopped down a cherry tree and he was forgiven because he told the truth!"
Their father nodded. "That's true. But George's father wasn't in the cherry tree when he chopped it down!"