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I share the same sentiment. The state of modern mathematics exposition is well summarised IMO by "they like the logically most efficient path; that rarely coincides with the pedagogically most efficient one", to paraphrase.

I also have an anecdote similar to yours regarding Hamilton and vectors: I think it was in one of the "Analysis Infinitorum" (Euler) that I found the natural logarithm being called the "hyperbolic logarithm" (it was the English translation of course). When I was a kid I was perplexed by how everyone seemed to insist on using e as the base of their logarithms and exponentials -- why the hell? Reading Euler's treatment of the subject would have been very satisfying then.