It is the average girl in college who determines the character and reputation of that college.  It is not the brilliant girl, it is not the girl whose earnest plodding barely carries her through, it is not the failure, it is the average girl.  If the average girl should leave her college a good athlete, interested in everything athletic, that fact would determine the general character of the college.  If the average girl leaves her college with broadened sympathies, good scholarship, intense interest in the affairs of the day, real joy in living and helping; these things determine the reputation and character of the college.  If the average girl leaves her college with social ambitions and plunges into the social whirl, giving her time and strength to the race for social prominence and notoriety, these things determine the character and decide the reputation of that college.

The usefulness and character of every church is determined not by the few people who do all that a church member should do, nor by the few who utterly fail to fulfil the mission of the church, but by the attitude, work and conduct of the average member of it.

The average girl in any occupation determines its standing and character.  The average girl in the employ of any concern determines not only its value as a public servant but its success.

The average girl holds the key to all situations touching the life of girls.  As the average girl becomes more efficient, finer in character, broader in thought, more sound in body, mind and spirit, she raises society with her; as she loses in efficiency, in power of thought and in character, grows weaker in body, mind and spirit, she drags society down with her.

What should she be like, this all-important average girl?  What is she in the ideal?  I have asked scores of girls the question and the following paragraph is their answer as well as my own.

The ideal average girl is strong in body, is intelligent, believes in God and strives to obey His laws.  She is not afraid to work and she has courage to meet hardships and loneliness if they come.  She is interested in pretty clothes, she wants them for herself, she has what she can honestly afford and she spends time and takes pains to get the very best she can for the money she has.  She refuses to be extreme in style or to make herself ridiculous or conspicuous.  She likes fun, she enjoys amusements and good times.  She will not indulge in things of which her parents heartily disapprove or which unfit her for work or study, and which her own conscience tells her are doubtful.  She loves friends and companions and has as many as she can.  She chooses carefully her friends among the boys and men and lets neither word nor act lower in the least degree their respect for her.  She looks forward to the day when she shall have a home of her own and fits herself to care for it with intelligence and skill.  She is honest, and faithful to the present tasks.  She is kindly, generous, helpful, cheerful, just the sort of girl one would like to live with every day.