28 THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
street is a marble tablet which was removed from the old church, com¬ 
memorating the death in 1667 of Dona Maria Cepero, who was killed by 
the accidental discharge of a soldier’s arquebus while she was kneeling at 
her devotions in front of one of the altars. 
The square is still the administrative center of Havana and Cuba. The 
Palace, in addition to being the President’s residence, contains the hall 
of the city government, and various civil offices; the Senate building 
fronts the Plaza on the north; in La Fuerza are kept the archives, and 
just beyond is the post-office. Near-by are the departments of the Govern¬ 
ment and the Hall of Representatives. The park is laid out with flower 
beds, and there are royal palms and laurel trees. In the center is a marble 
statue of Ferdinand VII. There was a peculiar propriety in setting up 
here in front of the Palace the effigy of the Spanish king in whose troubled 
rule the royal decree was issued which gave tc the Captain-General of 
Cuba “all the powers of governors of cities in a state of siege.” 
In old Havana, crowded within the city walls, the Plaza de Armas was 
the favorite pleasure resort of the Havanese in the evening. 
At 8 o’clock, drove to the Plaza de Armas, a square in front of the Governor’s 
house, to hear the Retreta, at which a military band plays for an hour, every even¬ 
ing. There is a clear moon above, and a blue field of glittering stars; the air is pure 
and balmy; the band of fifty or sixty instruments discourses most eloquent music 
under the shade of palm trees and mangoes; the walks are filled with promenaders, 
and the streets around the square lined with carriages, in which the ladies recline 
and receive the salutations and visits of the gentlemen.—R. H. Dana, 1859. 
EL TEMPLETE. 
