Dr. Randy L. Hyde tells about a wealthy family from Massachusetts who used to take a month’s vacation every summer to the coast of Maine, taking their maid with them.  

The maid had an annual ritual at the beach.  She wore an old-fashioned bathing suit, complete with a little white hat, and carried enough paraphernalia to stock Wal-Mart.  She would settle herself on the beach, cover every inch of her exposed flesh and journey down to the water’s edge.  There she would hesitate while taking deep breaths. Slowly she would work up her courage to enter the icy-cold water.

Finally, she would daintily extend one foot and lower it slowly into the water until she barely had her big toe submerged.  Then she repeated the act with the other foot.  Then, having satisfied her minimal urge for a swim,…