Please provide a quote from the story that answers the question, then explain why the quote you chose answers the question.
The children are at first confused, and later make the Father's appearance a part of their games. In the end they're afraid. Afraid because they do not understand, and probably frightened by the reactions of the adults around them.
Turning his veiled face from one group to another, he paid due reverence to the hoary heads, saluted the middle-aged with kind dignity as their friend and spiritual guide, greeted the young with mingled authority and love, and laid his hands on the little children's heads to bless them. Such was always his custom on the Sabbath-day. Strange and bewildered looks repaid him for his courtesy.
The children babbled of it on their way to school. One imitative little imp covered his face with an old black handkerchief, thereby so affrighting his playmates that the panic seized himself and he wellnigh lost his wits by his own waggery.
It grieved him to the very depth of his kind heart to observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up their merriest sports while his melancholy figure was yet afar off.
The Minister's Black Veil
