Question

mending wall
by robert frost
something there is that doesnt love a wall,
that sends the frozen - ground - swell under it,
and spills the upper boulders in the sun;
and makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
the work of hunters is another thing:
i have come after them and made repair
where they have left not one stone on a stone,
but they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
to please the yelping dogs. the gaps i mean,
no one has seen them made or heard them made,
but at spring mending - time we find them there.
i let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
and on a day we meet to walk the line
and set the wall between us once again.
we keep the wall between us as we go.
to each the boulders that have fallen to each.
and some are loaves and some so nearly balls
we have to use a spell to make them balance:
\stay where you are until our backs are turned!\
we wear our fingers rough with handling them.
oh, just another kind of out - door game,
one on a side. it comes to little more:
there where it is we do not need the wall:
he is all pine and i am apple orchard.
my apple trees will never get across
and eat the cones under his pines, i tell him.
he only says, \good fences make good neighbours.\
spring is the mischief in me, and i wonder
if i could put a notion in his head:
\why do they make good neighbours? isnt it
where there are cows? but here there are no cows.
before i built a wall id ask to know
what i was walling in or walling out,
and to whom i was like to give offence.
which lines from \mending wall\ best indicate that the speaker is amused while repairing the wall?
we wear our fingers rough with handling them. oh, just another kind of out - door game,
no one has seen them made or heard them made, but at spring mending - time we find them there.
and he likes having thought of it so well he says again, \good fences make good neighbours.\
we have to use a spell to make them balance \stay where you are until our backs are turned!\

Explanation:

The phrase "Oh, just another kind of out - door game" shows a light - hearted and amused tone. The speaker is comparing the wall - mending task to a game, which implies a sense of amusement.

Answer:

We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out - door game.