[Ads-l] Antedating of "easy as pie"

[Steven Losie]

EASY AS PIE (OED3, 1890)

Barry Popik has this traced back to 1879. Here is a slight antedating.
Colon in the original, introducing the next paragraph:

[begin quote]
They were a funny looking lot, to be sure, but as I looked them over, I
found I could make them out, with Bob's help just as easy as pie:
[end quote]
Source: "Miss Trippitt on the "Carnival"", Bangor (Maine) Daily Whig and
Courier, 24 Jan 1878, p.1, col.6 (Gale / Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers)

Another from 1878:

[begin quote]
"It was real mean in them to act so, and I can beat that Ella Chadwick as
easy as pie. Yes, and I mean to challenge her."
[end quote]
Source: "Races By Pretty Girls", Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Penn.),
20 Sep 1878, p.2, col.4 (newspapers.com)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/557095657/?match=1&terms=%22easy%20as%20pie%22

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